This Is War
by QuarterChickenSandwich
Summary: AU...When Summer is kidnapped by a new foe, Dillon, Scott, and Ziggy race through an inter-dimensional portal to save her. But through the portal they discover much more than they bargained for, the reality where the other rangers exist, and a war of sorts is being waged. (-Civil War Type Undertones-)
1. Chapter 1

**Lakeside Cabin**

Amongst the busyness of the sounds of the storm,that boom outside his cabin, Dillon finds himself alone. The former RPM black ranger is no stranger to being alone, but the symptoms of such an ailment, he has not experienced in a long time. In the technical, physical sense, he is not alone. Dillon's girlfriend, Summer Landsdown, lies next to him in their bed, fast asleep. It is because of Summer that Dillon will never truly be alone again, but in this moment, wide awake, for the first time since Venjix' defeat, Dillon finds himself alone, with his thoughts.

Dillon wonders why not knowing his given name no longer bothers him, he wonders if this is what it means to be truly happy, he wonders if he ever felt this way before. Most of all, Dillon wonders why he cannot sleep when he has long completed his journey to find his sister, and rebuild his life. Dillon wonders why, when he has fought through the danger, and attained his destiny, that he has this feeling, this feeling of vulnerability.

Suddenly, Dillon's pensive silence is broken by the cackle of vicious winds and lightning. The scream of the elements on the other side of the four walls he calls home, awakens Dillon unequivocally, removing any chance he has of sleeping the night. Dillon aggressively climbs to his feet, shaking, but not awakening Summer. Dillon walks to a nearby bookshelf, lifting several books as he removes a small jewelery case from the enclosure. Dillon opens the case and looks inside, smiling as he contemplates the ramifications of the case's contents. Abruptly, Dillon's moment of impromptu bliss is interrupted by the callousness of a hideous chuckle.

"Who's there?" Dillon exclaims, quickly placing the jewelery case back where he got it from. In a gust of wind the back door to Dillon and Summer's cabin swings open, revealing a dark figure in the doorway. The jarring of the door, jolts Summer awake.

"Dillon, what's...?" Summer begins, "Summer, don't move" Dillon booms. Summer's eyes quickly lock on the figure in the doorway, joining Dillon's. The dark figure, covered by both a cloak, and the shadow of the nightfall, peers at Dillon and Summer menacingly with his glowing, red eyes. "They call me Deathtoll" the cloaked being screeches, "I don't care who you are so long as you get out of my house right now" Summer commands, "Or we'll just have to make you" Dillon finishes.

The two parties stare at each other in complete silence for a brief second, but finally Deathtoll breaks that silence. "I wish I could just leave you alone, I really do, but you see there's only one problem with that, I'm here for the girl" the villain mocks. "Oh yeah?" Dillon and Summer shout in unison. Unimpressed by Deathtoll's intentions, Dillon immediately lunges at the fiend. Deathtoll parries the majority of Dillon's attempted strikes before hurling him out into the cold of the heavy rain. For a brief second Deathtoll turns to Summer, before following Dillon out of the cabin. "Don't worry sweetheart, I'll take care of your boyfriend real quick, and then I'll be right back here for you". As Deathtoll steps out of the cabin he is met by a kick from Summer, sending him towards Dillon. Summer quickly steps out of the cabin to join the fight, much to Dillon's chagrin, as Deathtoll climbs to his feet

"Summer, get back inside right now...or better yet, get into the fury right now and go find Dr. K and Ziggy" Dillon orders, "I am just as capable of fighting this guy as you are" Summer responds. Dillon stops to think for a brief second before he retorts, "I know, I just can't let anything happen to you, okay?". "A little late for that" Deathtoll interrupts, attacking Dillon with a vicious series of kicks and punches, knocking him to the ground. "Dillon!" Summer screams, running towards him. As Summer races to Dillon's aid she is intercepted by Deathtoll who quickly overpowers her, sweeping her to the wet, muddy ground. Seeing Summer in danger, Dillon climbs to his feet but finds he no longer has the strength to do much else.

"Defeated already? I expected more" Deathtoll taunts, as he scoops Summer up off the ground. "Let her go!" Dillon demands, "And what if I don't want to?" Deathtoll jests right back. Dillon pauses to catch his breath before barking back at Deathtoll, "Then I'll just have to make you!". Deathtoll laughs maniacally, breaking the moment of extreme tension, while in the midst of foiling Summer's attempt at breaking free. "Another time I'm afraid...I've got things to do, promises to keep, is it?" Deathtoll laughs. Miraculously, with a wave of Deathtoll's hand into the air, he creates a portal of dark energy. "No!" Dillon screams, running towards Deathtoll and Summer, but before he reaches them Deathtoll jumps into the portal, Summer in toe. "Dillon!" Summer shrieks, "Summer" Dillon yells. Unfortunately, Dillon's cries for justice make no difference, as the portal disappears, Deathtoll and Summer along with it.

"Summer" Dillon cries, collapsing to his knees in the dirt. At this moment, infinite combinations of thoughts race through Dillon's head, but through the fragments he knows what he has to do. Dillon wastes little time running inside to change (Into his RPM Jacket and all), and grabbing his car keys, along with the jewelery box. In seemingly, one organic, uninterrupted motion Dillon sets off in the fury, and back into the, now not-so, wasteland that he knows all too well.

**Boarding House**

The fury, driven by Dillon, speeds through Corinth's darkened city streets, stopping abruptly in front of a boarding house. Dillon rushes out of his car towards the boarding house's door. Just shy of the entrance, Dillon stops dead in his tracks. In this brief moment Dillon is unable to move, paralyzed by the idea that he has let the most important thing in his life be taken away from him for the second time. Dillon is intimidated by his previous experience and afraid that things might be different this time, that unlike his sister Tenaya, he may not find Summer at all. One thing is for sure, Dillon, most certainly, cannot waste anymore time.

Dillon reaches out and rings the door bell of the boarding house. Dillon waits for nearly 20 seconds before Dr. K answers the door, in her pajamas. "Why Dillon, is everything okay?" Dr. K asks in concern, "I'm at your door at four in the morning. You're the smart one dock, figure it out" Dillon responds. Dr. K motions for Dillon to come inside and as he complies he is met by Ziggy Grover, former RPM green ranger, also in his pajamas. "Hey Dillon, not that we don't appreciate the visit , but some of us need this thing called sleep. I'm sure you heard of it" Ziggy exclaims. Dillon stares at Ziggy for a moment before forming a sentence. "Ziggy, they took Summer" Dillon explains.

"What do you mean they took Summer?" Ziggy wonders, "I don't know, some guy calling himself Deathtoll broke into our house and took her through some big, black portal thing...It's my fault, I should've been stronger" Dillon says, with visible depression on his face. Ziggy stares at Dillon with great concern for a second, before a smile forms on his face. "It's not your fault Dillon, we'll just have to get her back is all" Ziggy exclaims. Dr. K quickly joins Ziggy in consoling Dillon, "I assure you Dillon, we will do everything in our power to help you find her" Dr. K remarks. Dr. K hurries into the center of the room and bends down, lifting up several floor boards to reveal a secret staircase. "And just what is that exactly?" Dillon inquires, "Just call it the Garage, 2.0" Dr. K answers.

Dillon and Ziggy follow Dr. K into the new garage, slowly descending the staircase, into darkness. As Dillon, Ziggy, and Dr. K reach the bottom of the staircase, the room suddenly lights up, revealing state of the art technology. "I'm going to begin a search outside your cabin and try to trace this, Deathtoll's bio-field signature" Dr. K iterates, "You do what you have to do doc, just make sure you find me something to punch" Dillon agrees. Dillon and Ziggy converse, away from Dr. K, but before they know it she has completed her search. "I have a lock on Deathtoll's bio-field signature, and I have a device that should make you just the portal you need to match his" Dr. K cheers, "Well then, what are we waiting for?" Dillon questions. Dr. K looks down at her computer with a pensive look on her face , before looking back up to address Dillon again. "You should know that it's not an exact science" Dr. K explains, "Since when is anything with you not an exact science doc?" Dillon retorts. Dr. K steadies her thoughtful gaze as she exchanges it for one of true seriousness, "Since I have no clue what we're dealing with" Dr. K admits.

"As long as I can waste it, that's all that matters" Dillon booms. Dr. K reaches into a drawer and takes out a device that bares resemblance to a projector. "With this you will be able to follow Deathtoll, and find Summer. It won't take you directly to him but it will definitely give you a place to start" Dr. K elaborates, "That's all I could ask for" Dillon reasons. "You need to take this thing outside so it's excess energy doesn't fry my instruments" Dr. K warns. Dillon quickly grabs the projector-like device out of Dr. K's hands, thanking her. before ascending the stairs with it. Dillon speeds outside, to the boarding house's front lawn, and prepares to utilize the device he is carrying. As Dillon prepares to press a button he is interrupted, when he is joined by Ziggy. "What do you want?" Dillon asks, "What are you talking about, what do I want? I'm coming with you" Ziggy laughs. Dillon is alarmed by Ziggy's suggestion but is distracted as a completely decked out, red 1994 Nissan Silvia pulls up beside the fury. "And I guess I'm not the only one" Ziggy smiles, as Scott Truman, former RPM red ranger, arrives.

Scott storms out of his car, towards Dillon and Ziggy. "Scott, what are you doing here?" Dillon asks in surprise. Scott prepares to answer Dillon's question but doesn't complete a thought before Dr. K appears, with a case in her hands. "I called him" Dr. K explains. Dillon turns to Scott, as they peer at each other, eye to eye. "I appreciate the thought, I do, but you shouldn't be here. I don't want to put anyone else in danger" Dillon reasons, "I can more than take care of myself, yeah? Besides, Summer's in danger and that's more than enough reason for me to want to lend a helping hand" Scott smiles, reasoning right back. A silence lingers in the air momentarily before Scott speaks again, "Anyway, It's not like there's much to do in eagle squad these days, what with no enemy and all" he explains. "I tried to contact Gem and Gemma as well but they're out of reach, and Flynn is simply too busy rebuilding, practically, this entire planet" Dr. K informs the 3 former RPM rangers. "Well if that's everyone, then let's get started" Dillon says, as he presses a button on the device Dr. K created.

Suddenly, a portal of dark energy opens up in front of Dillon, Scott, Ziggy, and Dr. K. "Ready?" Dillon asks optimistically, "Always" Scott responds. "Ziggy?", "Ready as I'll ever be" Ziggy explains. Dillon, Scott, and Ziggy step towards the portal, almost in unison. "Um, aren't you guys forgetting something?" Dr. K wonders, causing the three former rangers' eyes to turn towards her. Coming as a surprise to Dillon, Scott, and Ziggy, Dr. K opens the case in her hands, revealing the RPM morphers. "Your going to have a hard time rescuing Summer without these" states Dr. K. "Are we even going to be able to morph with these wherever this guy went?" Scott wonders, "Only one way to find out I suppose" Dr. K fires back. Scott grabs his morpher out of the case first, followed closely by Ziggy. Dillon slowly picks up the rear, grabbing both his, and Summer's. morphers, "For when we find her" he exclaims. "Thanks doc" Scott says, as he turns his attention back to the portal. "No more playing around" Dillon remarks as he and Ziggy turn their attention to the portal once again.

Just as the 3 are about to enter the portal, Ziggy stops dead in his tracks. "Oh, I almost forgot" Ziggy jeers, hurrying over to Dr. K and giving her a small kiss. "We'll be back before you know it, though I suppose I could always stay, you know, if you need me too. I mean, Dillon has Scott now, he doesn't really need me" Ziggy rambles, to Dillon and Scott's dismay. "Ziggy" Dillon and Scott shout in unison, "Coming!" Ziggy yells as he hurries back over to his teammates, Dr. K smiling as he strides. "You know, you and Dr. K, I still can't get over that one" Scott jests, "It's no weirder than Dillon and Summer, unless, you know, she's into that whole handsome, brooding bad ass thing" Ziggy laughs. "Let's just get this over with" Dillon orders, as he, Scott, and Ziggy step into the dark portal, it closing behind them.

**City Streets**

Through a dark portal, Dillon, Scott, and Ziggy arrive in an empty city street, in the middle of the day. Dillon, Ziggy, and Scott take a moment to observe their surroundings before beginning any kind of search. "Where are we?" Dillon wonders, "It looks like Stone Canyon, or maybe Angel Grove" Scott informs Dillon, "But before Venjix!" Ziggy explains. Dillon, Scott, and Ziggy wander cluelessly into one of the city's main streets, where they are surprised to see the Green and Titanium Lightspeed rangers being accosted by rapidly moving flashes of colored light. "They must be power rangers" Ziggy announces in excitement, "But something's attacking them" Scott proclaims. The flashes of colored light attacking the Lightspeed Rangers slow down, revealing themselves to be the Red, Yellow, Blue, Pink, and Black Operation Overdrive rangers. "Yeah, other rangers" Dillon barks, in surprise.


	2. Chapter 2

**Streets Of Angel Grove**

Dillon, Scott, and Ziggy stand on the sidelines, watching the red, blue, black, yellow, and pink Operation Overdrive rangers dismantle the green and titanium Lightspeed Rescue rangers. "We need to help them" Scott exclaims, "Sure thing, but just one question, which ones?" Ziggy responds.

In the fight, the Lightspeed Rescue rangers begin to mount a small offensive against the 5 Operation Overdrive rangers. "Send in the clones" Will Aston, the black Operation Overdrive ranger, orders. Immediately following Will's command, the streets are filled with hoards of foot soldiers, their bodies completely covered by advanced armor systems. The foot soldiers, clones, as Will referred to them, begin to assault the two Lightspeed Rescue rangers. With the threat currently subverted the Operation Overdrive rangers disengage and demorph. "Will, what are you doing? We could've brought them in without any of this" Mack Hartford, the red Operation Overdrive ranger, explains. Will rolls his eyes at Mack's suggestion, "I'm just making sure they don't get away like the last one's" he barks.

Dillon, Scott, and Ziggy are still surveying the battle, but Dillon has had enough. "I don't care about any of this, I just want to find Summer" Dillon yells, "Hold on man, these guys need our help too...and if the grinders taught me anything, it's that hoards of foot soldiers are usually bad news" Scott reasons. Visibly frustrated, Dillon responds, "Alright, we'll do it your way, but let's make it quick". Dillon rushes onto the battlefield, "Ha, right behind you" Ziggy states, hurrying to catch up to him. Scott follows his teammates and soon they stand face to face with the clones, and the Operation Overdrive rangers.

"And who are you supposed to be?" Will scowls, "Your worst nightmare, pal" Ziggy mocks. Scott changes focus from his perceived enemy, looking to his teammates, "Ready?" he asks, with force. Dillon and Ziggy look down at the morphers on their wrists and then respond in unison, "Ready!". "RPM, Get in gear!" the 3 RPM rangers cheer, preparing to morph. Dillon, Scott, and Ziggy wait only a split second before they realize that something is wrong; their morphers aren't working. "No way" Scott cries, "Damn it" Dillon boos, "Come on you stupid thing, RPM, get in gear...get in gear" Ziggy forces. Dillon, Scott, and Ziggy begin to reach the sad realization that they are, both outnumbered and outpowered. "Get them" Will orders the clones. Half of the clones preoccupied thrashing the Lightspeed Rescue rangers charge at the RPM rangers. "Will, they're unarmed civilians" Ronny Robinson, the yellow Operation Overdrive ranger, explains, "If they want to act like they're the foolish so-called power rangers that are constantly butting heads with us, then they may as well receive the same fate" Will yammers.

Ronny tries to continue to reason with Will but it's too late, as the clones have reached Dillon, Scott, and Ziggy. The RPM rangers attempt to defend themselves but are unmorphed and therefore, no match for their competition. One at a time, the RPM rangers are hurled to the ground, beginning with Ziggy and ending with Dillon. The RPM rangers struggle to climb to their feet as they are approached by Rose Ortiz, the pink Operation Overdrive ranger, and Dax Lo, the blue Operation Overdrive ranger. "In the name of the United States government we are placing you under arrest" Rose screams. Dax, and a few clones, gingerly pick the injured RPM rangers up off the pavement. "So what exactly did these guys do, exactly?" Dax wonders, "They directly interfered with, and attempted to disrupt, their governments affairs, and so, we're bringing them in for treason" Rose explains. Dax takes one good look at Dillon, Scott, and Ziggy, struggling to break free, and does not see criminals. "But they were, like, just trying to help someone who was outnumbered" Dax reasons, "Well unless they've been living in another dimension for the last few months, they should've known exactly what was going on, besides, that was our order; bring in the traitor lightspeed rangers, and anyone else that gets in our way" Rose finishes, preparing to place handcuffs on the 3 RPM rangers. Suddenly, Rose, Dax, and the clones are blasted by a wave of yellow energy, knocking them to the ground before they can contain the RPM rangers.

"Did I miss anyone?" Kira Ford, the yellow Dino Thunder ranger, who perpetrated the attack on the Operation Overdrive rangers, jokes. Conner McKnight, the red Dino Thunder ranger, stands beside Kira, both maintaining their morphed forms. Seeing the surprise attack, Will rapidly approaches Conner and Kira, with Mack and Ronny slowly picking up the rear. "Ah, you two again? No worries, look what we did to the last two traitors we had to face...it was almost too easy" Will mocks, "Well then, you're in luck" Kira smiles, "Because we brought some more traitors with us" Conner laughs. Almost on cue with the end of Conner's sentence, a sparkling beam of red light touches down between Conner and Will. As the light from the beam dissipates, Will and the rest of the Overdrive rangers have a clear view of the, morphed red Zeo ranger, Tommy Oliver. Upon the arrival of Tommy, Rose and Dax get up and stagger over to the rest of the Operation Overdrive rangers. "We're not afraid of you" Rose screams. Before anyone can attack, a sparkling beam of black light appears, touching down on the ground behind the Operation Overdrive rangers. As the light from the beam dissipates, the Operation Overdrive rangers turn to see it's manifestation, the black Mighty Morphin' power ranger. Immediately following the arrival of the black Mighty Morphin' power ranger, another sparkling beam appears following the same pattern, but this time landing to the left of the Operation Overdrive rangers. As the light from this beam dissipates it unveils the arrival of the green Zeo ranger, Adam Park. Then, before anyone can bat an eye, the last piece of the puzzle arrives, in Wes Collins, the red Time Force ranger.

"Clones, get them" Will orders. All the clones in the area immediately turn their attention to attacking the newly arrived rangers. Seeing the ensuing chaos, Conner hurries over to Dillon, Scott, and Ziggy, and helps them up. "Is everyone okay? You guys should really find some cover, things are about to get messy, this is no place for civilians" Conner attempts to take control of the situation, "Um, excuse me, but we're the power rangers" Ziggy responds. Conner stares at them for a brief second before responding, "Right!" he humors them. Dillon immediately becomes infuriated at Conner's suggestion while Scott tries to explain. "Okay listen, we are the power rangers, RPM, we hopped through some inter-dimensional portal thing, looking for our friend, and now we're here with you guys, we're the real deal" Scott tells Conner, "Yeah, and I'm David Beckham. Look, just because you want to be like someone, doesn't mean you can run around trying to live their life, it's dangerous" Conner scorns Scott. Dillon attempts to take a deep breath in and relax, but he's heard enough. "That's it! here's the deal buddy, we don't need to take this from you, we'll go our way and you can go to hell" Dillon booms, as he begins to walk away from Conner. "Excuse him, his girlfriend was recently kidnapped by a monster. You know, normal power ranger stuff" Ziggy apologizes for Dillon, before he and Scott chase after him.

"Dillon, calm down...we don't know anything about this place, anything about Deathtoll, these guys might be the only ones that can help us" Scott reasons, "I'd rather lose Summer than ask for help from Tyranno boy and his amazing friends" Dillon shouts back in frustration. Feeling that their best opportunity is dissolving, Scott reaches out and stops Dillon in his tracks. "We both know that's not true, now suck it up and be a team player for once. We came here to find Summer, yeah?" Scott continues to reason. Dillon takes one more step forward and then stops. "Come on" Dillon mumbles, running into battle with the clones, flanked by Scott and Ziggy. With increased numbers, and the general support of powered rangers on their side, Dillon, Scott, and Ziggy fair much better against the clones. In no time, the side that the Operation Overdrive rangers deemed as traitors defeat the clones. The clones defeat leaves the 5 Operation Overdrive rangers against 8 morphed rangers, as well as the unmorphed RPM rangers.

"I don't care how many of you there are, you're coming in! Overdrive..." Will screeches, preparing to morph, but abruptly, Ronny interrupts Will's morphing sequence by grabbing his tracker. "What do you think you're doing? Will questions, "We're horribly outmatched, we need to fall back" Ronny explains. Will looks at Ronny in disgust, shaking her hand off his tracker. "Ronny's right" Mack explains, "Yeah" Dax affirms. "Cowards! Then I'll just have to do this myself...Overdrive, Accelerate!" Will rambles as he morphs into the black Operation Overdrive ranger. "Drive slammer!" Will calls, preparing to utilize his power weapon. "So which one of you is first?" Will smirks. Will waits for a moment, as Adam slowly steps forward. "You guys can run and hide, but I'm helping Will. Overdrive, Accelerate!" Rose shrieks, morphing into the pink Operation Overdrive ranger. Adam quickly observes the changes to the battlefield before he engages Will. "Kira?" Adam asks, "If I have to" Kira jokes, walking towards Rose. Kira and Rose engage in a very short battle but Rose is simply outclassed . Within a minute, Kira uses her Ptera power to hurl Rose to the ground, from the sky. Meanwhile, Adam attempts to reason with Will, while dodging his attacks. "They're just using you, come on, you know us. Kira and I have helped you before, I thought we were friends, and all the government's doing is spinning your head" Adam explains, "Spinning my head? They're not doing anything of the kind, they're paying me what I'm worth, giving me rank over my less experienced team. The United States government is making all my dreams come true" Will cackles, while still relentlessly trying to hurt Adam. "Well, can't say I didn't try" Adam exclaims, disarming Will and knocking him down with a spinning heel kick, all in one smooth movement.

"This isn't over" Will mutters, climbing to his feet. Will immediately turns to his teammates in disgust, "What are you looking at?" he yells. After a brief moment of uncertainty, Will regains his composure. "All units, fall back to the hexagon; repeat; all units, return to the hexagon" Will orders, as he, his teammates and all capable clones begin to flee. "What are we waiting for, let's get 'em" Conner cheers, as he presses forward. Before Conner can get too far, Tommy reaches out and stops him. "No, they're just doing their job, no matter how they go about doing it. This whole thing wasn't their idea, it's not even their fault, they're rangers too, and, once a ranger?" Tommy dictates, "Always a ranger!" All the present, morphed rangers respond. "Right, now let's return to the chamber" Tommy commands. All the morphed rangers prepare to teleport away, including the rescued lightspeed rangers, when Zack Taylor, the black Mighty Morphin' power ranger, notices Dillon, Scott, and Ziggy standing off to the side of them. "What about them?" Zack wonders. Tommy takes one look at the RPM rangers and sees their morphers, "They're coming with us" he shouts.

**The Hexagon**

The unmorphed Operation Overdrive rangers walk through the halls of the futuristic military base known as the hexagon, completely discouraged. The rangers make it halfway down the hallway before they are approached by Carter Grayson, the red Lightspeed Rescue ranger. "The president wants to see you" Carter exclaims, before leading the Operation Overdrive rangers into his office. Upon entry of the president's office, the Overdrive rangers see the president sitting at his desk, with an armed guard of clones surrounding him and Trini Kwan, the yellow Mighty' Morphin power ranger, at his left hand. "What is it sir?" Will asks. The president stands up from his seat before answering Will. "Oh, it's of none of your concern Mr. Aston" the president assures him, "Or you, Ms. Ortiz" he continues. Hearing this, Will and Rose quietly push off to the side of the room, as the president approaches Mack, Ronny, and Dax. "Mr. Hartford, Ms. Robinson, and Mr. Lo, I regret to inform you that your services are no longer needed" the president exclaims. "If you say so" Ronny smiles, "Yeah, I liked it better the way it was before anyway" Mack cheers, "Yeah, like, your loss" Dax giggles, as they turn to leave.

"I'm not sure you understand" the president smirks, while signaling for his armed guard to attack the 3 dismissed Overdrive rangers. Mack, Ronny, and Dax try to morph, but are easily overwhelmed and restrained. The 3 Operation Overdrive rangers look to their teammates, Will and Rose, for support but get none, as they try to ignore the situation as much as they can. "You see, not only are Mr. Aston and Ms. Ortiz loyal, but their skills in espionage and mathematics are nearly unmatched. While Will and Rose are valuable assets, you are expendable" the president comments. Before they can do anything at all, Mack, Ronny, and Dax are stripped of their morphers by the clones. "I'd hardly call this loyal" Ronny screams. The president gives another hand signal, making the clones let the 3 Overdrive rangers go. "Make no mistake, you are of no threat to me, you are free to go. I'll give you a call if I ever need a poor actor, a daddy's boy, or a chauffeur. And tell your friend Tyzonn that should he return from Mercuria he will receive the same considerations as I gave to the 3 of you" the president screeches. Within seconds of the president finishing speaking, the clones aggressively usher Mack, Ronny, and Dax out of the office, and subsequently out of the building. The clones hand the Overdrive rangers' trackers to the president, who hands them to Trini. "See what the doctor can do with these" the president orders. "Of course" Trini complies, scurrying out of the office.

The 3 dismissed Overdrive rangers reconvene in front of the hexagon once they are released by the clones. Mack, Ronny, and Dax turn to each other in complete shock. "What now?" Ronny asks, in pure disbelief of what just happened, "We move on" Mack exclaims, "What they had us doing, that's not what being a power ranger is all about " Mack finishes. "It sucks though, they took everything from us" Dax mopes, "Don't worry Dax, soon they'll get what they deserve" Mack says confidently. As the 3 former Operation Overdrive rangers begin to walk away, the ground begins to shake and they look up into the sky, just in time to watch the Astro Megaship fly by overhead.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Hexagon**

The president sits in his chair, looking out the window as the Astro Megaship lands nearby. The president instantly turns to one of the clones that surrounds him. "Fetch me lieutenant Stewart" the president orders. Responding to the boss' order, two of the clones exit his office. Within 30 seconds, the two clones return with Justin Stewart, the blue Turbo ranger. "Yes, sir?" Justin asks uneasily, "A few of your friends are coming in, I want them to be greeted by a welcoming face" The president responds. Justin nods his head and saunters over to the president, standing beside him in the same formation as his guard of clones. Justin and the president wait for only a minute before the 6 space rangers are led into the office by another hoard of clones.

"Justin!" Cassie Chan, the pink Space ranger, exclaims as she notices her former teammate, "Wow Justin, you sure grew up" Ashley Hammond, the yellow Space ranger, adds, "I can hardly believe it's you" Carlos Vallerte, the black Space ranger, finishes. Before any more pleasantries can be exchanged, the president stands up from his seat. "What brings you to the Hexagon? I take it you've decided to enroll in our campaign against vigilantism" the president concludes, "Not exactly" Andros, the red Space ranger, says. The look on the president's face instantly turns from one of joy and excitement, to utter disgust. "Yeah, we don't really agree with how you're doing what you're doing, but, we don't need to hold onto these powers, or this life, anymore" Zhane, the silver Space ranger, explains, "What Zhane's trying to say, is that we just want to live in peace, so we're here to turn in our morphers" T.J., the blue Space ranger, tells the president. Each of the Space rangers hand their morphers to Andros, who places them on the president's desk, "These are for you! We hope that you will find a way to use these powers to defend the world in the name of good, like your mission statement mandates" Andros expresses his hope for a brighter future. "I assure you we will. We thank you for what you've done for this planet" the president praises the space rangers. After the exchange, the space rangers slowly file out of the office. Once the space rangers are completely gone, the president turns to a clone.

"Is everything in place?" the president asks, with a sinister tone in his voice. The clone that the president asked his question to nods his head. "Permission to speak freely, sir?" Justin requests, "Of course, Lieutenant Stewart" the president allows the blue Turbo ranger. Justin takes the time to brace himself, and muster up a lot of guts before he speaks again. "Sir, with all do respect T.J., Carlos, Cassie, Ashley, Andros, they're all my friends, and they never did anything wrong. You got what you wanted, they turned in their morphers, they're no threat to the country, so why are you doing this?" Justin rambles, "My motives are not to be questioned Lieutenant Stewart, if you don't like how I'm running things, the door is open. But may I ask you something? What means more to you, 5 vigilantes who went on to travel space and take untold adventures without you, or, being a hero to your country, a hero to the world?" The president cackles back. Justin stops to think, for only a quick second, before saluting the president, "Being a hero, sir!" he cheers. The president looks at Justin and smirks, "Good, contact the Captain and tell him he's cleared for the raid of the Pai Zhuq temple. Then, head outside and join the clones" The president commands, "Yes, sir" Justin concedes, hurrying out of the office.

As the, now former, space rangers step outside and walk towards the Astro Megaship, they are shocked to find a squad of clones blocking them from their transport. "I didn't know they had valet parking" Zhane exclaims, "No Zhane, something's wrong" Cassie explains. The space rangers slowly approach the clones, who are standing still, side by side, blasters in hand. "What's going on?" T.J. Asks the clone in the front of the pack. Before T.J. Can react, the clone raises his blaster, firing it into T.J.'s chest. T.J. Falls backwards to the ground in severe pain, holding his chest. Cassie runs over to T.J.'s side, as Andros, Carlos, Zhane, and Ashley brace for combat. "Thought so" Andros says, before he and his teammates engage the clones. The unmorphed space rangers fight evenly with the clones, until the arrival of the, morphed, Justin and Megaforce rangers.

Upon arrival, Justin dispatches each of the Megaforce rangers; Troy Burrows, Emma Goodall, Jake Holling, Gia Moran, and Noah Carver, to combat the space ranger of the corresponding color. With T.J. Incapacitated Noah charges at Zhane instead. Unmorphed, the far more experienced and far more capable, space rangers are unable to mount much of an offense against the Megaforce rangers. Jake, the black Megaforce ranger, easily drops Carlos, severally injuring him with his Snake Axe, as does Emma, the pink Megaforce ranger, Cassie, with her Phoenix Shot. Ashley soon follows, being taken down by Gia, the yellow Megaforce ranger, and her Tiger Claw. Andros and Zhane fight on further against Troy and Noah, the red and blue Megaforce rangers, but they too, eventually, succumb to those rangers' power weapons; the Dragon Sword and the Shark Bowgun. With the space rangers soundly defeated, the Megaforce rangers pick up and capture Andros, Zhane, Carlos, Ashley, and Cassie, with the help of the clones. The Megaforce rangers turn the space rangers to look at Justin, the field leader of their capture. "Justin, why are you doing this?" Ashley cries, "Yeah, come on man, this isn't you" Carlos adds. Justin takes a good look at his former teammates and comrades, pushing down, deep inside, any sense of loyalty he's ever had to them, in favor of his loyalty to the president and the United States government.

"Orders from the top, you are way too dangerous a team to be left to roam freely, powerless or not" Justin explains, "You label all of us as traitors, but you're the traitor, not us" Cassie shrieks. Justin takes his attention away from the space rangers, looking at his underlings, the clones. "You know the orders, separate them" Justin commands, forcing the Megaforce rangers to split Andros and Zhane up from Ashley, Carlos, and Cassie. "Where are you taking them?" Ashley yells, "They're aliens, the president wants them studied. Simple as that" Justin explains, doing his best to feign inalienable confidence. "Andros!" Ashley cries, as the clones begin to drag Andros and Zhane away, "I'll be fine, don't worry. If you can find a way, tell Karone, Leo , and the others to stay on Mirinoi where it's safe" Andros begs her to remain level-headed. The clones continue to take Andros and Zhane away, almost out of the reach of their friends' voices. "I love you" Ashley shouts, trying to reach Andros. Unfortunately, Ashley has no way of knowing if her husband heard her, because he and Zhane have been taken away, out of reach of even her shrillest screams. In desperation, Carlos turns to the Megaforce rangers, "You guys are just young and naïve, they're using you. You're power rangers like us, you have to know this isn't right" Carlos begs, hoping for a positive response from the young rangers. "I fail to see where protecting our country, protecting the world, isn't right" Troy mutters back. "Come on guys, think...you have to know in your hearts, Carlos is telling the truth" Cassie reasons, "And we're supposed to believe you?" Gia wonders, mockingly, "Oh yeah, cuz you would never lie to us to save your own butts" Jake enforces Gia's opinion. Cassie and Carlos' efforts seem entirely in vain, until Emma speaks out. "You know, maybe they're right guys, we don't really know much about what's going on behind close doors" Emma explains, "Enough, they're just trying to turn us against each other" Noah dismisses Emma's idea. Having heard enough, the Megaforce rangers begin to drag Ashley, Cassie, and Carlos away, in a different direction than Andros and Zhane were dragged. All the rangers, current and former, are about to head back inside when Troy notices T.J., squirming around on the ground.

"What about him?" Troy asks, pointing to T.J. 's nearly limp body. "Teej? He's not a threat, not by himself anyway" Justin explains, leading his party of captors and captives, away. As his friends are dragged away, T.J. Slowly makes it up to a knee. "I'll get you out of there guys, I promise" T.J. Gasps, collapsing back down to the ground.

**The Power Chamber**

Tommy, Adam, Zack, Wes, Conner, and Kira stand in the middle of their newly built power chamber, helmetless but morphed. Dillon, Scott, and Ziggy stand right beside them, unmorphed. A short 10 feet away, Joel and Ryan lay in beds, attached to medical contraptions. "Wow, this place is wicked, how did you guys manage to put all of this together?" Ziggy asks, with wonder in his eyes, "It's amazing what you can do with the funding of one, Anton Mercer" Tommy explains. The 3 RPM rangers stare at Tommy, completely dumbfounded. "Anton, who?" Ziggy asks, in curiosity. Kira takes one look at the RPM rangers and sees how truly lost they are. "Wow, these guys really aren't from around here" Kira interjects, "No we're not" Scott explains. The somewhat pleasant conversation takes an aggressive turn once Dillon gets frustrated. "We're from another dimension, we came here through some stupid portal thing, but we lost our portal device in the hole. We just want to find my girlfriend, Summer, and find a way to get the hell out of here. Now, if you don't mind, see if you can't point us in the right direction" Dillon rants. Tommy attempts to ease tensions by placing his hand on Dillon's shoulder. "Take it easy, I assure you, we will do everything we can to help you. Now, how about those morphers? We'll see if we can't do something about them" Tommy calms Dillon, "Morphers? Are you kidding me? Those toys their wearing?" Conner interrupts, "Come on Conner, don't be so blind, If those aren't morphers, I don't know what are" Tommy disarms Conner. Dillon, Scott, and Ziggy shakily hand Tommy their morphers.

"So, which one of you has the skills to fix these things?" Scott wonders, "That'd be me" a robotic voice rings out, as Alpha 5 enters the room. Alpha wastes no time grabbing the RPM morphers from Tommy. "Robot!" Ziggy squirms, preparing to battle Alpha. Zack diffuses the situation by walking over to Alpha and putting his arm around him. "Relax man, old Alpha here wouldn't hurt a fly. Maybe a spider..." Zack assures Ziggy and the other RPM rangers, who have devoted much of their lives to fighting robots. "Ay yi yi, afraid of me? Don't you worry, I'll have your morphers fixed and ready to use in no time" Alpha chirps, preparing to walk off. "Wait!" Dillon stops Alpha, handing him Summer's morpher, "Take this one too, it belongs to the person we're looking for, she might need it" Dillon states, in the most relaxed town he's taken since Summer's kidnapping. Alpha nods, before waltzing off with the 4 RPM morphers.

"While, Alpha is it? Is doing that, maybe someone can tell us what's going on around here" Dillon gently demands, "He's right, gonna be needing a serious explanation, yeah?" Scott adds. "Alright" Tommy agrees, as all the rangers in the power chamber subtly push closer together. "It all started about 3 months ago, out of the blue" Tommy explains, "One day, the president called an emergency press conference. I don't think anyone knew what it was about" Tommy continues, "It was on every station, so I knew it had to be something big. Boy, was I right. The president announced that from this day forward the power rangers were considered vigilantes, and therefore, enemies of the state. Somehow they knew all our identities" Tommy rants, before Adam interjects into the conversation. "And this, after 25 years of protecting this planet, and everyone on it" Adam exclaims, the pain in his voice evident. Tommy lets Adam finish before pressing on, "The president gave us two choices; go and work for him "protecting our country", or be hunted like dogs" Tommy explains, "I'm a military man myself, it's really not so bad. Couldn't you just sign-up with them, yeah?" Scott wonders. Conner and Zack look at Scott like he's stupid, while the other's continue on the way they were before. "Now, working for your government doesn't seem so bad on paper, but it's in practice where it all falls appart" Tommy tells the RPM rangers. "Yeah, the president and his mandates are sick, not the good kind. He uses the power rangers as his personal soldiers to attack whoever he wants, instead of the peace keepers we're supposed to be. I wouldn't have left my ranger life to go to a damn peace conference if I knew that our leaders, even some of my brothers and sisters, thought peace was a sham" Zack adds, each sentence with increasing fury in his voice.

"Still there are some benefits; a paycheck, endless resources, not being hunted by your country. It is because of this that that many of our former teammates; Trini Kwan, Tanya Sloan, Rocky Desantos, and Ethan James, among others have signed on with the government" Tommy explains, before being interrupted, yet again, this time by Conner. "Yeah but they did it the right way, the humane way. They turned their morphers in, to take desk jobs, and move on with their lives. They don't hunt their own kind for no good reason" Conner roars, with a passionate fire that burns equally in his heart as it does his eyes. Seeing how distraught Conner is, Kira holds his hand in her's, in an attempt to calm him down. "Unfortunately they've even hunted down powerless rangers; like our own Trent Mercer. Nobody's safe" Tommy comments. Hearing the mention of Trent, Conner squeezes Kira's hand harder. "It is our goal to put an end to this tyranny once and for all" Tommy concludes. The 3 RPM rangers take a second to digest the information they've just been communicated, before speaking themselves.

"And this is all you've got? I mean no offense, but it sounds like you guys are going to need an army" Ziggy reasons, "We have plenty of allies we could call on if need be; Trey Of Triforia, the rangers of Aquitar, but this is not their fight, and it would be irresponsible to ask them for help, irresponsible to put their well-being at risk" Tommy explains, "And, Time Force and SPD won't risk interfering in the conflict, trust me...I tried" Wes adds, "Speaking of reinforcements, I finally managed to get ahold of Tori in Blue Bay Harbor, she's on her way. Still no word from Xander and the mystics in Briarwood though" Adam informs Tommy. Tommy is pleased by Adam's news, while Scott puts his hand on Ziggy's shoulder. "Come on man, we took down Venjix, and there was really only like 7 of us. With our help, it should be more than enough, yeah?" Scott assures Ziggy, "Scott's right, this whole thing'll be no problem. We'll walk in and trash the place, then you guys can use all these gadgets and find my girlfriend. Once you do that, we'll be on the first train back to our own personal wasteland...everybody wins" Dillon exclaims, with a ferocity in his voice. Ziggy listens to Dillon before starting to smile. "You know what? You guys are right. After Venjix, this'll be no problem" Ziggy cheers, "We come from a future where a computer virus called Venjix enslaved humanity, annihilating most of the human race. This'll be a walk in the park" Ziggy finishes, speaking loudly so that he's sure all the rangers in the chamber can hear him. Wes suddenly takes the center of the room, "You see that's what I thought, but this thing, it turns your best friends against you, they'll break your heart before they rip it out. This is unlike anything any of us have ever faced before it's superhuman forces and human politics all rolled into one. It's a civil war." Wes tells the RPM rangers, in absolute seriousness, "If you expect to help us beat these guys you are going to have to be willing to strike down those you care about and fight only for what's right, and you have to believe what's right is what you believe in, because, honestly, I'm not sure anyone knows for sure" Wes rants, passionately.

Before anyone can say anything else, Alpha storms back into the main room of the power chamber. "Ay yi yi yi yi, the Pai Zhuq temple outside Ocean Bluff is under attack. The Jungle Fury rangers need support, right now" Alpha shrieks, "Then that's just what they'll get, ready the teleporter Alpha" Tommy cheers, his teammates standing by his side, preparing for teleport. "Are our morphers ready?" Scott asks Alpha, "Not yet, I'm still acclimating your morphers to the energy of the morphing grid" Alpha explains. Tommy wastes no time taking leadership of the situation. "Alright, you stay here with the Joel and Ryan while they recover. Have Alpha send you when your morphers are ready" Tommy orders, "Right" Ziggy and Scott respond. Tommy looks around the room at his teammates. "Alright, you heard Alpha...Back to action!" Tommy shouts, as he, Adam, Zack, Wes, Conner, and Kira teleport out of the power chamber in sparkling beams of light, colored to match their individual ranger color.


	4. Chapter 4

**Pai Zhuq Temple**

"Crunch!". This is the sound that Theo Martin's, the blue Jungle Fury ranger's, solar morpher makes as Will Aston presses down with his foot, shattering it. To Theo, the destruction of his morpher is nearly the least of his worries as it only furthers an already dire situation; that he and his fellow Jungle Fury rangers (along with Jarrod and Camille) have just fallen victim to a surprise attack. 10 feet to the left of Theo, Lily Chilman, the yellow Jungle Fury ranger, is being overwhelmed by four Lightspeed Rescue rangers. By the gates to the temple, the 3 spirit rangers, and Jarrod and Camille, battle an army of clones. 50 feet to the right of Theo, while in the midst of trampling the garden, Dominic Hargan, the Jungle Fury rhino ranger, is fighting a losing battle against the entire Megaforce team. Near Dom, R.J., the Jungle Fury wolf ranger, is submersed in a skillful battle with all 6 samurai rangers. Without further hesitation, Theo climbs to his feet and restarts the battle with Will and Rose Ortiz. All this while, just inside the temple, Casey Rhodes, the red Jungle Fury ranger, is engaged in hand to hand combat with, the morphed, Justin Stewart.

With great intensity, Casey clashes with Justin. Both Casey and Justin are impressed with the martial arts skills of the other, and unable to out-do their opponent. Casey's animal spirit abilities are unrivaled but Justin's resolve is unwavering, both young men fighting for what they believe to be their presents and their futures. Suddenly, Justin lands a stiff roundhouse kick to the chest, knocking Casey to the ground. "Why are you doing this?" Casey gasps as he climbs back up to his feet, "This country, this world, needs heroes, and that's what the power rangers are supposed to be. Only, we can't do anything hiding in our temples, and underground in our chambers. So, if you aren't going to do anything, anything of real consequence, than you'll have no problem with us taking your powers and giving them to someone who will" Justin rants. Infuriated by Justin's suggestions, Casey lunges at him, striking him with a quickly released series of punches. "You might take our powers but you'll never take our spirits. As power rangers, we are heroes, that will never change" Casey yells, attacking Justin once again. Justin parries the majority of Casey's attack and they soon revert to fighting evenly.

Theo continues to battle Will and Rose but, despite superior training, is being beaten down by the two morphed rangers. Seeing Theo's defeat as imminent, Lily hurries over to him, temporarily avoiding her own defeat at the hands of the red, pink, blue, and yellow lightspeed rangers. "Theo, are you okay?" Lily worries, helping Theo up off the ground. Theo takes a second to watch the overdrive and lightspeed rangers closing in before he responds, "I'd like to say yes, but I'm afraid the jury's still out on that one" Theo exclaims. Thoroughly embracing the numbers game, the overdrive and lightspeed rangers divide to combat Theo and Lily. Will is joined by Carter Grayson, the red Lightspeed Rescue ranger, and Chad Lee, the blue Lightspeed Rescue ranger, in fighting Theo. Rose is joined by Dana Mitchell, the pink Lightspeed Rescue ranger, and Kelsey Winslow, the yellow Lightspeed Rescue ranger, in fighting Lily. Theo is even more overwhelmed than before, being thrown around and pounded into submission by 3 morphed rangers. Lily, on the other hand, deals with her attackers attempts to contain and restrain her. Lily, being morphed and superiorly trained, manages to fight off most of Kelsey, Dana, and Rose's advances. Before Lily can gain any advantage, she is forced to come to Theo's aid once again, picking him up off the ground. Lily attempts to support Theo as they try to escape from their attackers. "We have to get out of here" Lily screams, "We can't abandon the temple" Theo retorts. Before Lily and Theo can argue any further, they are blasted by Noah Carver's Shark Bowgun, demorphing Lily, and hurling them both to the ground. Scorched, Theo and Lily try to climb back up to their feet but can't find the strength.

"Theo! Lily!" Dominic calls, tackling Noah to the ground before he can attack them again. Unfortunately, before Dom can mount any more offense, he is swarmed by the megaforce rangers. First Dominic is struck with Jake Holling's Snake Axe, sending him stumbling backwards, then, the rhino ranger is hit with Gia Moran's Tiger Claw, spinning him around. Dom tries to regain his composure but it's too late, as he is blasted simultaneously by Noah Carver's Shark Bowgun, and Emma Goodall's Phoenix Shot. Troy Burrows finishes Dom off with a hefty strike of his Dragon Sword, demorphing him, and sending him flying towards his friends. Theo and Lily scurry over to Dom, helping him up, but they now realize that their window to escape has disappeared.

Meanwhile, in a welcome turn of events for the Jungle Fury team, R.J. Continues to hold his own against the 6 samurai rangers. Despite not doing very much damage of his own, R.J. Is able to evade the vast majority of the samurai rangers attacks, which is no small feet considering that they outnumber him 6 to 1. "I don't get it, I thought samurai were supposed to be warriors of integrity, of honor, of peace. And yet here you are, swarming me...like rats!" R.J. Exclaims, landing several kicks to the samurai rangers. "Unlike you, we listen to our mentors. Mentor Ji would never steer us wrong" Jayden Shiba, the red Samurai ranger, cheers, oozing the aroma of conviction. With fatigue starting to become a factor, the samurai rangers finally begin to take advantage, landing several powerful strikes to R.J.'s body. "Or maybe they do listen to their mentors, and their all just too naive" Kevin, the blue Samurai ranger, reasons, "Us, naïve? Surely you must be confused. It is quite obviously you who's being played here, this is chaos. This is not the way of the ninja, the samurai, or the power ranger" R.J. Explains, trying to interject some sense into the samurai rangers' thought process. "He's just trying to trick us" Mia Watanabe, the pink Samurai ranger, shrieks, "Yeah, Mia's right, this guy can't be for real" Mike, the green Samurai ranger, agrees. The samurai rangers, as a unit, continue to attack R.J. But Emily, the yellow Samurai ranger, stops dead in her tracks. "You know what guys? Maybe he's right. It doesn't really make sense for Mentor Ji to tell us to join the government and hunt down power rangers, now does it?" Emily thinks, "No, Mentor Ji's never steered us wrong before and he's not going to start now" Antonio Garcia, the gold Samurai ranger, concludes, landing a powerful punch to R.J.'s face that sends him flipping backwards.

"R.J.!" Casey roars, limping towards R.J. Casey and R.J. Are soon joined by Lily, Theo, and Dom. The 5 primary Jungle Fury rangers line-up and prepare for what could be their final battle ever, Casey and R.J. Still morphed, the others unable to. At this time, the spirit rangers, and Jarrod and Camille, complete their defeat of the clones and join their friends. "All this, for us?" Jarrod laughs, preparing to battle seemingly insurmountable odds. As the 6 samurai rangers line-up with the 5 megaforce rangers, the 4 lightspeed rangers, the 2 overdrive rangers, and Justin Stewart, blue Turbo ranger, an air of confidence comes over the government agents, knowing full well that their odds are 18 to 10. Before the agents can attack they are blasted by a huge bolt of energy, knocking them all down. The 18 government rangers regain stability, and climb to their feet just in time to see Tommy, Adam, Zack, Wes, Conner, and Kira arrive on the scene, leveling the playing field considerably. "This can't be good" Carter Grayson exclaims, "Don't worry, the Captain's made it inside the temple, he'll remove the spirit rangers from the equation and the odds will be back in our favor in no time" Will assures Carter.

On the other side of the spectrum, Tommy and his crew have clearly sided with the Jungle Fury rangers. "Are you guys alright?" Zack asks the Jungle Fury rangers, "Better now, thanks" Casey explains, maintaining a level of intensity towards the government's rangers. "He said the captain's inside, I'm going in after him" Wes demands, "Alright, we'll take care of things out here" Tommy guarantees him, granting Wes the freedom to head inside. Wes runs towards the temple, catching Carter's eye. "Hold it right there!" Carter booms, "Don't worry about him, your fight's with us" Tommy responds, "And we're already going to be way too much for you to handle" Adam adds. Without further hesitation all the rangers divide, battling their own, former brothers and sisters in arms.

Inside a dark room of the Pai Zhuq temple, Masters Finn, Swoop, and Phant pantomime the moves of their spirit rangers, as they battle the government's rangers. Completely immersed in the battle of their animal spirits, the masters don't notice as a hostile sneaks into the room where their physical bodies are housed, and fires lasers at them, incapacitating them with his Quantum Defender. Eric Myers, the unmorphed Time Force Quantum ranger, and Captain of the government's ranger forces, stands over the unconscious Pai Zhuq masters. Eric taps a button on his earpiece to communicate with his teammates, "The old guys are down and the spirit rangers will follow" Eric assures his team, and, like clockwork, the spirit rangers disappear from the battlefield. Eric looks at his Quantum Defender and then down at the 3 fallen Pai Zhuq masters, "Sorry, orders from the top" Eric exclaims, pointing his blaster at master Swoop's unconscious body. Before Eric can pull the trigger, a voice rings out interrupting his train of thought, "And let me guess, you can't think for yourself any more?" Wes questions Eric. Instantly recognizing the voice, Eric turns to see his former partner, and, for all intents and purposes, best friend, standing in the entrance way. "Do we really have to do this again? I really hoped you learned your lesson last time. I'm doing my job, this country needs protection, and that's what I'm giving it. Now I know that you're used to getting what you want and doing what you please. But it's just not the right way to live" Eric rambles, the ferocity in his voice tearing through emotional barriers. "Listen to me Eric, this isn't right, you have to know that; Jen, Lucas, Katie, Trip, they all made a difference in silver hills without conforming to an organization...without being thoughtless drones for a so-called higher power" Wes shouts, in a last ditch effort to get through to his former co-leader of the silver guardians. "Typical Collins', always spinning words to make your point. Your friends worked for Time Force, and we did just as much good with the Silver Guardians as you ever did on your own" Eric reasons, his belief in his own words, unquestionable. "My friends? They were your friends too" Wes yells back in frustration, "No they weren't, I don't have any friends. I have one loyalty and that's my country, and my only goal is to help people. You can do that your way, but when your way interferes with my way, then we have a problem. Now we have a problem" Eric immediately screeches back. Wes takes one look at Eric and sees the focus in his eyes, "If you say so" Wes complies.

"Time for...Time Force!" Wes transforms into the red time force ranger, chrono sabers in hand. A great smile comes across Eric's face as he realizes what's about to happen. "Quantum power!" Eric calls, transforming into the quantum time force ranger, quantum defender in hand. Eric immediately delivers a double flying front kick to Wes' chest, sending him stumbling backwards onto the side of a table in the corner of the room. The second Eric lands he fires his quantum defender at Wes; who only narrowly avoids the attack, the blast breaking the table. Eric fires another blast at Wes but he disperses it's energy, cutting it appart with his chrono sabers. "Eric, It doesn't have to be this way" Wes exclaims, "You don't have to fight back if you don't want to" Eric responds, firing another blast that Wes deflects with his chrono sabers. Next, Wes charges Eric, attempting to strike him with both chrono sabers. Eric dodges the saber swing of Wes' left hand, but Wes' right handed swing cuts him across the thigh. The severity of Wes' attack knocks Eric to a knee. Almost instinctively, Eric grabs Wes by his wrists, headbutting him, in a head on head collision. The impact of Eric's strike knocks Wes' chrono sabers out of his hands, leaving them both disarmed, as Eric holsters his quantum defender. Wes and Eric engage in hand to hand combat, giving Eric the upper hand because of his martial arts training. Eric strikes Wes with many powerful kicks and punches before his previously injured leg gives out, allowing Wes the opening he needs to roll over top of Eric and grab his chrono sabers. "Time strike!" Wes cheers, striking Eric in the chest with the red hot energy of his chrono sabers. The power of Wes' attack demorphs Eric, sending him crashing to the ground. Eric tries to get up but, despite his iron will, cannot find the might to climb to his feet.

"Give up Eric, it's over" Wes assures him, "For you maybe, but this war won't end until justice is served" Eric gasps, drawing the quantum defender on Wes and firing it into his chest. The quantum defender's impact proves equal to, or greater than, Wes' chrono sabers' as it demorphs the red time force ranger, leaving small burns all over his body as he collapses to the ground. Finally, Eric gathers the strength to climb to his feet and approach Wes. "Eric...don't" Wes mumbles, unable to convey a stronger voice. "Sorry, but the real heroes still have work to do" Eric mocks, pushing down on Wes' chest with his foot, while ripping his chrono morpher off his wrist. Wes reaches up towards Eric, but can no longer find the strength to produce any more words. Eric smiles before turning away from Wes, red chrono morpher in hand. Luckily, before Eric can make away with the morpher, a streak of red light flashes by him, swiping Wes' chrono morpher out of his hands. "And just who are you supposed to be?" Eric asks the morphed ranger that's now standing in front of him.

"Scott Truman, RPM! Ranger operator series red" Scott announces, readying his fighting stance. "Another time maybe" Eric laughs, before exiting the Pai Zhuq temple in a frenzy. Instead of going after Eric, Scott makes the obvious decision to hurry to Wes' side, carrying him to his feet and slowly towards the exit. "Are you alright?" Scott wonders, "Eh, I've been worse. You guys really weren't kidding were you?" Wes smiles, "No, sir" Scott responds, as they step outside the temple and see their comrades fighting a successful battle in the courtyard. The samurai and megaforce rangers are already in retreat, leaving only the lightspeed, overdrive, and single turbo ranger in the fight, all greatly wavering. Conner and Zack are more than holding their own against Will and Chad, while Dillon, more or less, utterly dismantles Justin. Carter of lightspeed rescue is no match for Tommy, and Dana, Kelsey, and Rose, all fare just as poorly against Kira, Ziggy, and Camille. Almost immediately after Scott and Wes rejoin their friends, the rest of the government's rangers start to retreat. "Yeah, you better run" Zack laughs, "You got that right" R.J. Smiles, "And don't you ever come back" Jarrod finishes.

Once they are sure that their enemy has fled, the Jungle Fury rangers turn to their rescuers. "Thanks, so much for all the help" Casey exclaims, "Yeah, that was like, really cool of you guys" R.J. Continues, "We never could've done it without you" Lily smiles, "Well, I'd never say never" Theo extends. The rest of the rangers look at Theo like he must be joking and continue their conversation. "You guys should gather up your students and find an alternative location" Adam tells the Jungle Fury rangers, "Yeah, and the Pai Zhuq masters are inside, they're unconscious but they should be okay" Wes explains, "But what about you guys?" Lily asks, with the rest of the Jungle Fury rangers wondering the same thing. Tommy looks to his team for support, "We'll keep doing what we're doing" Tommy explains, "Kicking ass at every turn" Conner smiles, "And winning this thing, one way or another" Zack adds. Lily takes a look at her teammates before responding, "We can help you" Lily grins, "I couldn't help you even if the world depended on it, my rhino morpher is fried" Dom contradicts, "And I'd love to help you, but my solar morpher is crushed" Theo explains. Casey steps up and puts his hand on Lily's shoulder, "It's probably for the best Lil, this place is trashed...we need to rebuild, somewhere new" Casey explains, "Casey's right" Jarrod agrees, "Yeah Lily, the rest of the school needs us" Camille finishes. Lily demorphs, revealing the sad look on her face, as her team's form of reasoning is slowly circumventing her helpful nature. "While it is true that we need to rebuild, I think it could possibly go unnoticed should a swift cheetah take off on her own journey" R.J. Reasons. Lily looks to R.J. And smiles, "Thank R.J... then I'm going back with them" Lily explains, "But Lil" Theo prods, "I'm sorry Theo, but you can't control me" Lily chirps, her voice slightly exceeding it's regular volume. "We do appreciate all the help we can get, and I assure you that we'll get her back to you as soon as this thing is over" Tommy guarantees his Jungle Fury cohorts, "Alright" Casey agrees, extending his hand to Tommy, who shakes it, "And thanks for everything" he adds. "Don't mention it...Alpha, we're ready to come back and we've got one more ranger than before" Tommy addresses the leader of the Jungle Fury rangers, before changing tones to talk to his robotic friend over his communicator. "Bye guys! I'll be back soon" Lily waves to her friends, right before she and the rest of Tommy's team disappear into the sky in sparkling beams of colored light.


	5. Chapter 5

**Anon: **I figure it's like they're retiring after a job well done, with over a decade of service. They're just giving the powers over to someone they hope can still do some real good with them. As far as we know KO-35 is peril free for quite some time now, while Earth is attacked on the reg. I couldn't even see anyone really targeting it, it's remaining population and all being so small and unthreatening. And until Andros and Zhane are taken, they have no reason to believe the rangers of Earth wouldn't help KO-35 anyway. But that's just my thought process, everyone's entitled to their own and they're all equally valid.

**Fallingstar22/brankel1:** I appreciate the constant support (Figured I'd throw this up with the other one)

**The Hexagon**

Eric Myers and his team of war torn, government affiliated rangers burst through the doors of the Hexagon. Each ranger looks just as unimpressed as the next, as they trek through the hall with their heads down. As soon as the rangers begin to disperse and go their separate ways, Eric is approached by an armor covered clone. "Captain Myers, the president wants to see you in his office" a familiar voice rings out from in behind the clone's face mask. Knowing full well why he's being beckoned, Eric soundly dismisses the clone and trudges over to the president's office. Eric sighs before entering the office, curious as to what the look on the president's face will be; one of understanding, or one of anger? Without another second's worth of hesitation, Eric twists the door knob to the president's office, pressing into the room. As Eric establishes eye contact with the president, he is surprised by the calm demeanor of his country's leader. In fact, the president's temper is so in check that it rivals the person standing to his left; former ranger, Trini Kwan's always peaceful resolve.

"Mr. President, you wanted to see me, sir?" Eric inquires, "Have a seat, we need to talk" the president exclaims, gesturing towards a chair in front of his desk. Anxiously, Eric takes a seat in the chair the president designated for him, while preparing for whatever his boss has to say. "Mr. Myers" the president begins, "It is through much deliberation, and with a heavy, heavy heart, that I have decided to replace you as active Captain of my team" the president announces. The revelation that the president has apparently had, and has now dropped on Eric, resonates with the, now former, Captain Myers. Furious, Eric springs out of his chair to his feet. "What? Surely you must be kidding? We destroyed the blue and rhino ranger powers, along with almost their entire temple. If anything you should be thanking me. If Wes and Tommy don't show up with their band of merry men, then I would be serving the Jungle Fury rangers to you on a silver platter as we speak" Eric argues, frustrated at this turn of events. The president pauses for a moment, trying to allow the quantum ranger to regain his composure before he continues. "I'm not sure you understand, you are not being punished for poor performance, and you are not being removed. There is still a very prominent role for you here on this team, it's just that I have located someone who can better lead this outfit, and take it to the heights I know our project can reach. With this new captain, I can all but guarantee victory over Tommy Oliver and his ragtag group of misfits" the president explains. Frustrated, Eric hyperventilates softly before retorting. "Really? No disrespect sir, but I am former co-captain of the silver guardians. Who could you possibly find that could lead this team better then I can?" Eric reasons. The president chooses not to respond to Eric's question, as a strong figure appears in the doorway.

"How about me?" a deep, cocky voice booms from the office doorway. Eric immediately turns around to see the perpetrator of this interruption, and his replacement as team leader. Recognizing this man immediately, Eric salutes the powerful figure. The president and his assistant, Trini, smile widely, as the replacement for the leader of the government's rangers, stumbles into the office.

**The Power Chamber**

10 sparkling beams of colored light touch down in the center of the power chamber, where Alpha stands, pressing buttons on a control panel. Once the light dissipates, Tommy, Adam, Zack, Wes, Conner, Kira, Dillon, Ziggy, Scott, and Lily are all left standing in the middle of the room, demorphed. "This place is amazing" Lily exclaims, a child like smile coming across her face, "If you want, maybe I could show you around" Conner smiles back. Hearing Conner's proposition, Kira reaches out and punches him in the arm. "Okay, maybe not" Conner responds, "Well if he's not going to, then I'd be happy to, yeah?" Scott grins, "Oh yeah, cuz you know so much about this place" Dillon interjects. Without engaging in any of the banter of the younger members of his team, Tommy calmly walks over to Alpha. Simultaneously, Adam and Zack help Wes to a seat. "Alpha, anything while we were away?" Tommy asks, "The lightspeed rangers have fully recovered" Alpha begins, "You got that right" Joel Robinson interrupts, as he and Ryan Mitchell enter the room. Joel and Ryan are quickly embraced by the rest of the rangers in the room. "And I'm currently beginning a scan using the yellow ranger's morpher, to triangulate her location by tracking her bio-field signature" Alpha explains, "Excellent Alpha" Tommy praises.

Without any further conversation with Alpha, Tommy turns to the crowd of his ranger allies, "You here that Dillon? Alpha's started scanning for Summer. With any luck we'll have her back to you in no time" Tommy hollers. Ziggy and Scott's reactions to Tommy's words are those of excitement and optimism, while Dillon remains relaxed and quiet, reaching into his jacket pocket and clutching the jewelery box inside, tightly. The slight tension in the room, radiating from Dillon, is cut by the arrival of two speedy ninja rangers. As their traveling ninja streaks fade, Tori Hanson, the blue wind Ninja Storm ranger, and Hunter Bradley, the crimson thunder Ninja Storm ranger, officially make their presence known.

"Hey guys, what did we miss?" Tori asks, addressing anyone who will answer. Adam immediately stands up straight, approaching Tori. "Hey Tori, thanks for coming" Adam smiles, "When you told me what you were doing, how could I not?" Tori says, with her voice taking a sudden, serious tone. Before Adam and Tori's conversation can roll on, Kira steps out of the crowd of rangers to join them. "Oh my god, Kira! How are you?" Tori smiles, hugging her friend, "Well, you know, saving the world and all. Same old, same old" Kira smiles back. Kira stares at her friend for a moment, recognizing the subtle ways that she's changed, as all humans do over time. Before Kira can bring another thought to the tip of her tongue, the tall blond man that stands behind Tori catches her eye. "And just who is this?" Kira grins, "Oh, Hunter?" Tori starts, smirking, "I hope you don't mind, I figured I'd bring a little help" Tori finishes. Adam sizes Hunter up, from head to toe, before he responds, "But I thought you were the only one of your team that still had their powers?" Adam wonders, "Cam was able to take all the left over energy from the other morphers and put it into Hunter's. Hunter's morphing powers aren't strong, but they're enough to help" Tori explains, "And, if you don't mind me asking, what made you pick him to get all that power? Aside from him being...pretty intimidating" Kira questions. Without responding verbally, Tori reaches back and grabs Hunter's hand with her's. "Oh!" Kira exclaims, understanding the more complex implications of Tori's simple gesture, "And he's no slouch either, just wait till you see the crimson ranger in action" Tori gleams, towards Hunter. Listening to the conversation, two of the more animated members of the team, Zack and Wes, get involved in the Ninja Storm rangers greeting. "Crimson? They're just making up colors now" Zack laughs, "Hey, at least it's not as bad as quantum" Wes counters humorously, though the pain in his voice is still evident.

"Oh don't worry about them. We're all friends here" Kira extends to Hunter, with a smile. Hunter prepares to get his first words in edgewise, but he is interrupted by Scott and Ziggy. "Scott Truman, RPM" Scott reaches his hand out to Hunter. Hunter hesitates for only an instant before shaking Scott's hand. "And don't forget about me, Ziggy Grover. Also RPM" Ziggy smiles warmly. Taking only a short breath in between lines, Ziggy turns and points to Dillon. "And that brooding cool guy over there is Dillon, also RPM. I'm only saying this cuz I know he won't introduce himself. Don't mind him, he's really a nice guy, his girlfriend just recently got kidnapped is all..." Ziggy rants, before being disrupted by Dillon. "Ziggy!" Dillon roars, "Right!" Ziggy responds, stopping his conversation with the crimson ranger. "RPM? I've never heard of you guys" Hunter restarts the conversation, opening a window for Ziggy to throw more words out of. "Well you see, we're from another dimension where there's these twins that can read each other's minds; a giant domed city; tons of half human half cyborgs...Oh and there's this evil computer virus Venjix who enslaved humanity and just about ended the world. And, of course there's this quirky, yet beautiful doctor, who accidentally released the virus, and then created our powers to fight it..." Ziggy raves, "Wait, what?" Hunter asks, dumbfounded. Before Ziggy can slow down, though he probably wouldn't anyway, he is scorned by Dillon yet again. "Ziggy!" Dillon yells, stopping Ziggy in his tracks, this time for good. "Okay, guys. It's good to keep things light at times like this, I understand, but Joel and Ryan have something to say" Tommy explains, as Joel and Ryan make their way to the center of the room.

"Okay, now as most of you know, when this whole thing started, Lightspeed Rescue in it's entirety signed on with the government. Eventually, Joel and I discovered the error of our ways and got out of there, much to our former teammates disgust. We were attacked and would've been left for dead. That's where you guys came in, you probably saved our lives, and we'll always be thankful for that. So, now it's our turn to help you" Ryan explains, an intense tone throughout the entirety of his speech. Joel begins to speak, differing his tone and approach from Ryan's, his body language communicating far more excitement than Ryan's. "And boy, can we help you guys?! Because guess what? We spent 3 months working with these guys, we know what they do; how they think; where they live" Joel rambles, a genuinely happy expression on his face, "And we're willing to tell you everything you need to know, just as long as you agree to spare our fellow lightspeed rangers" Ryan propositions. As team leader, Tommy takes center stage, walking up to Ryan and Joel, to explain to them a few things, "You don't have to worry about that. Our goal is to spare every single ranger. All I need is 5 minutes with the president and I'll be able to change his mind about all of this" Tommy says, holding a firm belief in his own words. "We can get you in" Joel smiles, encouraging Tommy, "You hear that guys? All I need is 5 minutes, and tomorrow morning, when we know the president's in the building, we take it. Go now, please, get some rest. Because tomorrow, everything changes" Tommy speaks, with a dead serious, confident tone, that almost cannot be argued with.

Over the next hour of mingling, nothing of consequence is said or done, as each ranger contemplates the gravity of the mission they will be faced with tomorrow. Sporadically, each ranger makes their way to the sleeping areas of the power chamber, hoping for as much rest as they can get; Hoping to be more ready, come tomorrow morning, than perhaps they've ever been before. In fact, the only ranger in the sleeping chambers, unable to register a wink, is Dillon. Quietly, Dillon creeps out of the sleeping chambers, doing his best to avoid waking any of his teammates. Slyly, Dillon climbs up the stairs, towards the Power Chamber's tunnel to the streets of Angel Grove. However, unbeknownst to Dillon, he's caught the eye of another ranger. Having been sitting in a chair in the dark, and having seen each of Dillon's, somewhat stealthy, movements, this ranger stalks Dillon up into the city streets.

**City Streets**

Dillon stands on a poorly lit rooftop, staring at the contents of the jewelery box he's been carrying with him. "Can't sleep?" a friendly voice breaks the silence, emanating from behind Dillon. Dillon immediately closes the jewelery box and puts it in his pocket, turning around to see the person who followed him. "I don't sleep" Dillon tells Tommy, in a dismissive tone. Tommy walks up to Dillon, and stands beside him, overlooking the city streets, before he speaks again. "Yeah, seems like I don't either these days, not anymore" Tommy exclaims. Tommy continues to stare at the streets while speaking to Dillon, his pensive, furrowed brow digesting each and every crack of the once, ever so vibrant Angel Grove. Or at least it felt that way when he was young, and in love. Tommy still remembers when everything was black and white, good v.s. Evil, and how every moment in between was colorful. Tommy hates that it's all become shades of gray, that their enemies are their friends, and one faction of these heroes must really be the villains. Tommy, isn't even sure what side is right, but he has to believe that whatever he's doing will make a positive difference. Tommy has to believe that he is good and the president is evil, because if not, they wouldn't have killed Trent Mercer. The government wouldn't have hunted them like animals, wouldn't have hunted their family's, and wouldn't have commissioned a merciless army if they were right, if they knew how to be heroes. And, if there was ever anything Tommy knows, it's how to be a hero. Finally, breaking free from his trance, Tommy turns to Dillon.

"Don't worry, we'll get her back" Tommy tells his rebellious friend, "Easy for you to say" Dillon retorts aggressively, "Listen to me, a little faith goes a long way. Everyone needs something to believe in, and something to fight for. There's a reason you're here" Tommy explains, trying to reach his pigheaded comrade. Dillon finds himself completely unimpressed by Tommy's spiel. "Yeah to find my girlfriend! And I wouldn't have come if I didn't think I could do it" Dillon reasons, "But you would've, you would've come no matter what...because you're a hero, and the hero always gets the girl" Tommy smiles, "And when you do, you can't let anything take her away from you, you got that?" Tommy finishes. Tommy's words finally break through some of Dillon's barriers, Dillon accepting what he has to say. The air peels off of the rooftop, as Tommy desperately awaits Dillon's response. But, before Dillon can respond, Tommy's communicator goes off, Alpha's voice echoing over the roof, and the city. "Ay yi yi, You're not going to believe it. I found Summer, she's in the Hexagon" Alpha panics, "Are you sure, Alpha?" Tommy verifies, "Absolutely, i'm getting a gimungous reading" Alpha assures him. Hearing Alpha, Dillon pulls his morpher out from under his jacket sleeve and prepares to morph. "Wait!" Tommy begs, "Go in tomorrow morning, with us, the others will be a big enough distraction for the both of us to sneak in" he reasons. Dillon looks down at his morpher again, while pondering Tommy's words. "Please, I promise you...it's the only way" Tommy stares into Dillon's eyes. Dillon stares back at Tommy, his eyes piercing his new friend's soul. Without any further adieu, Dillon nods, agreeing with Tommy that the best way to save Summer is with the help of his new friends. "Alright, now get some rest. We're gonna need everything we've got tomorrow" Tommy orders, in a friendly manner. Dillon stares at Tommy, nodding again, before the two make their way back towards the power chamber.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Hexagon**

Clones stand alongside the walls of the Hexagon, intended to keep the facility safe from any intruders. Unfortunately for the armored clones, one such intruder lurks in the shadows, watching them. Hearing a sudden rush of footsteps, 2 clones step away from their post to investigate. As soon as the clones turn the corner, they are clobbered by a dark figure. As the alarm sounds, abruptly shattering the silence of a cold, dim morning, the dark figure steps out of the shadows. By steeping into the light he reveals himself to any onlookers as T.J. Johnson. Initially surprised by the quickness of the alarm sounding, T.J. Quickly regains a level head, charging towards one of the Hexagon's entrance. All T.J. Wants is to get his friends back, and he is prepared to face any odds to do so. Despite a poor, injured, physical condition, T.J. Assumes a strong stance, in expectation of the fight of his life. So it comes as quite the shock when T.J. Finds the area to be clear of clones, and, better yet, finds himself a direct entrance to the building.

T.J. travels through the corridors of the Hexagon for over a minute before he finally sees any clones, and, more importantly, the real cause of the alarm. Scores of clones stand engaged in an intense battle with Adam, Zack, Wes, Conner, Kira, Hunter, Tori, Scott, Ziggy, and Lily, right in the halls of the government's, not-so, secret base of operations. The clones hold a slight advantage against the morphed rangers, based on nearly numbers alone. "Well if you can't beat 'em..." T.J. Starts, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his turbo morpher. T.J. Looks at his "old friend" for a brief moment in time, remembering everything. In this moment, T.J. Remembers inheriting the turbo powers from Tommy, he remembers his young friend Justin, and quivers at the man he has seen him become. More importantly, T.J. Remembers the fall of the Command Center at the hands of Divatox and the Piranhatrons, how he failed his friends that day, how he failed everyone. T.J. Swears that none of that will ever happen again, placing the Turbo morpher on his wrist for the first time in close to a decade. "Shift into Turbo!" T.J. Yells, morphing into the red Turbo ranger. T.J. Wastes no time in joining his fellow rangers in battle, working to even the odds. The fighting rangers are equally surprised, and happy, to see a former ranger leader join the battle on their behalf.

"Who's that?" Lily wonders, while fighting. Hearing Lily's question, Scott fights closer towards her. "You're asking me?" Scott responds mockingly, continuing to throw punches and kicks. "That's T.J" Wes yells from across the hall, "Don't worry, I'd trust him with my life" Adam assures the young rangers, from somewhere behind them. About 20 meters away from Scott and Lily; Conner, Kira, Hunter, and Tori are clustered close together, fighting off waves of clones themselves. "How you holdin in there Avril?" Conner mocks Kira, jokingly, "Oh, don't even start" Kira is annoyed, taking down a series of clones in rapid succession. "Throw me" Tori orders Hunter, nicely, "With pleasure" Hunter smiles, hurling Tori into a pile of clones who she dismantles with her Sonic Fin. Meanwhile, Ziggy easily, and nonchalantly, evades the clones attacks, while watching Hunter and Tori fight. "Ah, I could do that" Ziggy jokes, taking the time to picture he and Dr. K doing the same double-team fighting moves. "Naw, we're better" Ziggy smiles, as he begins to fight the clones seriously again, knocking down several. With steady numbers, great skill, and an irrefutable resolve, the rangers manage to make short work of the remainder of the clones, littering the floor with unconscious, armored bodies. Victorious, the successful rangers ease their way towards each other, convening in the middle of the hallway. "Alright! What now?" Kira asks, "I say we tear this place down" Conner cheers. Kira gives Conner a crooked look, followed by a light punch in the arm. "Actually, Conner's right. We need to do as much damage now as we can, this way, on the off chance Tommy should fail, then this won't all be for nothing" Adam reasons,with a pure, undisturbed focus on the task at hand. As T.J. Joins the rest of the rangers, but before they can proceed in the slightest, all 6 samurai rangers; all 5 megaforce rangers; the 2 overdrive rangers working for the government; and former captain, Eric Myers, arrive on the scene. The government rangers find themselves surrounding Adam and the rest of the rangers on either side of the hallway.

"I hope Tommy, Dillon, and them are having better luck then we are" Scott exclaims, "You can say that again" Zack agrees. Standing at one side of the hallway is Eric, with Will, Rose, Troy, Noah, Jake, Gia, and Emma. "Where's the new captain?" Will hisses, "He's got the lab on lock down, protecting the doctor" Rose explains, "Then who's in charge?" Troy wonders. Eric gives one look to his less experienced teammates before stepping ahead of them, towards Adam, Zack and the others. "I am!" Eric booms. Eric's slight attempt at intimidation alerts the non-government rangers, who take a ready stance. "Get ready guys" Adam warns his friends, "We're going to have to fight this thing to the finish" T.J. Adds, "I think one of us should pay the doctor a visit" Wes interjects. The rangers look to each other, trying to think of who should go. "I'm always down for a little adventure" Zack suggests, "You know, if you guys will be okay here without me" Zack finishes, jokingly, "No problem" Conner postures, "Never better, yeah?" Scott grins. Meanwhile, Will looks at Eric with defiance in his eyes. "That's cute, the guy that got replaced is going to lead us in our biggest fight yet" Will mocks the quantum ranger, "I still outrank you! This is an order, Attack!" Eric orders, as the morphed, government rangers flank the morphed, non-government rangers. Zack smoothly breaks away from the battle, sauntering through the next hallway over. Eric immediately attacks Wes, while Will attacks Adam; Noah and Troy fight T.J.; Conner battles Jayden; Gia and Emma go two on one with Kira; Mia and Emily team up on Tori; Jake assaults Hunter; Mike clashes with Ziggy; Lily goes toe to toe with Rose, and, Scott is flanked by Antonio and Kevin.

Elsewhere, Carter, Chad, Dana, and Kelsey (4 of the 6 lightspeed rescue rangers) are gearing up to join the battle against the non-government crew. As the 4 rangers grab their morphers from a locker bay, they are jarred by familiar voices. "Going somewhere?" Ryan asks, alerting the rangers to their former teammates' presence. "You going to fight us now?" Joel wonders, an aggressive tone in his voice. "What are you doing back here?" Carter demands an answer, "Surely they realized their mistake" Dana interjects, optimistically. Chad takes one look at Ryan and Joel and realizes that this is not the case. "They're here to turn us" Chad exclaims, accusingly, "Is this true?" Kelsey asks the green and titanium lightspeed rangers. "You got that right" Joel cheers, "What Joel's trying to say is that you are all making a horrible mistake" Ryan elaborates, "The government is playing you, they're treating heroes like animals. Hunting them, killing them, and we don't even really know why, do we? One person just decided, one day, that this is the way it has to be...but it doesn't" Ryan finishes. Carter struts towards Ryan and Joel, closely followed by Dana. "It's not our job to question our government. Our mission is to serve and protect the people of this country, this planet. This is the best way for us to do that" Carter rants, "Do you think that? Or did someone tell you to think that?" Joel retorts, aggressively. "It's not our job to think. Wait, that came out wrong" Chad rambles. Ryan stares through Carter, to his sister, Dana, who he's always known to be a truly caring person. "Dana, you have to see that something is wrong here?" Ryan pleads, but Dana's only response is her gaze shifting to her feet. "Dana!" Ryan yells, to the same response, "Guys, why don't you just come back, work with us" Kelsey begs, "That I'll never do" Joel responds, "Me neither" Ryan adds. Seeing that their words are getting them nowhere, Ryan and Joel slowly turn to leave. "Then I'm afraid you're not leaving here again...Lightspeed, Rescue!" Carter cackles, morphing, Chad, Dana, and Kelsey along with him. As Ryan and Joel reach for their morphers, they are caught by their speedy, possibly former, friends. Carter and Dana restrain Ryan while Kelsey and Chad do the same to Joel. "Dana, please" Ryan grovels, "I'm sorry" Dana mumbles. Ryan shoots Dana a, near, disgusted look. "I said I'm sorry, okay!?" Dana cries, as the government rangers begin to drag the struggling Ryan and Joel away.

On the opposite side of the Hexagon from the battle, The president is being escorted by Justin Stewart and a horde of clones, to a safe location. "Hurry, Mr. President, they could be closing in" Justin encourages the president, as they jog through the hall. The president and his convoy stop as they reach a giant, metal room that resembles a bank vault. "Go ahead Mr. president, you'll be safe in here" Justin directs his boss. As the president steps inside the vault, Tommy appears, having already been inside, slamming the door closed, and locking it. The huge, near unbreakable, door now separates the president from his nearest help, Justin and the clones. "What do you want with me?" The president panics, completely distraught. Tommy walks towards the desk in the vault, pulling a chair out from under it. "Please, Mr. President, have a seat" Tommy welcomes. The president gives Tommy a crooked look, before nervously stumbling into the seat Tommy pulled out for him. "Now, I figure I'll only have about 5 minutes until they bust that door down, but, luckily, that's all I need" Tommy postures, taking a firm stance. "Now, there's not a doubt in my mind that you had the best intentions when you started this, but somewhere, some how, things went wrong, and now you have to fix it. If you would've come to us; talked to us; explained yourself to us, then we would've had no problem going along with your plans. But no, you poked us; prodded us; forced us; hurt us; killed us, and for what? We never hurt anyone. As power rangers, we are sworn to protect, and that's all we've ever done. These are some of the smartest; kindest; bravest, human beings I've ever known, with, or without, their powers. And yet, you turn them into public enemy number 1, you turn their country against them, and, again, for what?" Tommy speaks, expressing almost every emotion and every thought he's had over the past 3 months, releasing this anger that's consumed him. Tommy and the president now begin to hear Justin and the clones, presumably, chipping away at the door to the vault.

"Now, don't you see? You can fix all this. All you have to do is call this off and come up with something that all of us can agree on. This could be a great thing, but it has to be done right. You're the only one who can do this, please...I'm begging you" Tommy begs, for the first time that he can remember. The president pauses for a second, taking all of Tommy's passionate words to heart, and contemplating the ramifications of all his actions over the last 3 months. "No" The president smirks, rejecting Tommy's plea, without compromise, and with no lack of malice. "What?" Tommy asks, in complete disbelief. Taking control of the room, and the conversation, the president stands up from his chair. "You see, here's what's going to happen. Any second now, my men are going to bust down that door and come get me. Then they'll try to drag you out kicking and screaming, but I won't let them. I'm going to tell them to kill you. You see, that's the difference between you and me, I've got the guts to kill you, but you'll never kill me. So, if I was you, I'd get that shiny red suit on and hope for the best" the president rants, tearing much of the hope out of Tommy's heart. "If you're not going to fix this, then I swear to you I will" Tommy promises the president, "Ooh, so scary" The president mocks the red zeo ranger. Hearing Justin and the clones closing in, Tommy moves over to the vault door. Tommy looks back at the president momentarily, but realizes that there's nothing else he can do. "Alright then, It's morphin' time! Zeo Ranger V, Red!" Tommy morphs into the red zeo ranger. Without hesitation, Tommy delivers a zeo power kick to the vault door, that crashes into Justin and the clones, knocking them down. Pressing the advantage, Tommy hastily makes his escape, sprinting down the hallway. As Tommy ventures away, the president steps out into the hallway, shaking his head at his overpowered troops. Pensively, the president's eyes drift away from his troops, staring at Tommy's back as he turns the corner.

As Tommy creeps out of the governments clutches, Zack creeps into the Hexagon's lab where they design many of the weapons he's had used against him. Zack surveys the large, open hangar, but he finds himself completely uninterested by the gadgetry. Zack only stops once he notices an observation deck that houses offices, with their lights on. Stealthily, Zack scales a ladder up to the elevated deck. Standing on the observation deck itself, Zack slides over to one of the offices, opening it's door. Once Zack steps into the office, he finds a room full of control panels. A man in a lab coat sits at one of the panels, his back turned to Zack. "I'mma take a wild guess, and say that you're the doctor everyone's been talking about" Zack exclaims. Hearing Zack's voice, the doctor swings his chair around. "Billy!?" Zack gasps, taking off his helmet. Billy's surprise almost equals Zack's, as he climbs to his feet quickly and walks towards his former teammate, placing his hand on his shoulder. "Zack, I can't believe it! How are you?" Billy smiles, "Well you know, I've been up, I've been down, mostly down, fighting all these goons you keep sending after us, and all" Zack grumbles, "Well why didn't you register? I mean, what's going on?" Billy genuinely wonders. Zack looks at Billy like he must be brain damaged. "What are you talking about man? They only gave us two choices, mindless drones or criminals, what did you expect me to do?" Zack is confused. Billy looks equally confused, as his superior intellect tries to dissect this new, contradictory information. "But the president's explained everything to me, and it all seems quite reasonable. I mean, fair wages; retirement plans; local ranger outposts; upgrades, you name it" Billy explains, "But we haven't seen any of it, it's all went to these fuckin' clones that the government's using to hunt us down and lock us up. For god's sake, they killed one of the kids Tommy runs with cuz he didn't have any powers to defend himself" Zack speaks, as fast, and impactful as possible. Billy listens to his old friend intently, but is disturbed by the conflicting reports he's been getting. Billy appears like he's piecing things together in his head, the right way, when the booming voice of the government rangers' new captain rings out from the door way. "Sorry, but it's the end of the line bro" the grizzled, muscular figure, shouts. Immediately recognizing the voice they've heard so many times before, Zack and Billy turn to the doorway to see what they know is there, even though they can't believe it.

"Jase? No way!" Zack's jaw drops...


	7. Chapter 7

**The Hexagon**

"Jase? No way!" Zack's jaw drops... Zack and Billy stand silently, motionlessly, in complete shock and awe that Jason Lee Scott, the red Mighty Morphin' power ranger, their former leader and friend, stands in the doorway. Zack and Billy simply linger, waiting for him to speak again. Jason gestures like he's about to speak again but only clears his throat. "Jason, what are you doing here?" Zack gasps, "You must be the new captain" Billy interjects. Jason nods his head, while continuing to stare a hole through Zack. "Well what are you doing here then? Wouldn't it be far more appropriate for you to help to put the facility on lock down?" Billy wonders. Jason stops making eye contact as he slowly slithers towards Billy and Zack. "I'm here to put you on lock down, and annihilate anything that gets in my way" Jason booms, lifting his eyes once again, locking them on Zack's. "What are you talking about man? Jason, it's me, the Zack man. You know what I'm sayin'. Like, can you not see me?" Zack rambles, nervously. Swaggering towards Zack, Jason becomes aggressive. "All I see...Is a traitor!" Jason yells, grabbing Zack by the throat, and forcing him up against the wall. Billy immediately hurries over to his two friends, trying to pull Jason off of Zack. "Jason, relax" Billy attempts to calm the furious red ranger. Suddenly, Jason throws Zack to the floor, grabbing Billy and throwing him back into his chair. "Don't move again" Jason orders, while, knowing the fight's not over, Zack puts his ranger helmet back on, calling forth his power axe. "I'm sorry Jase, but if this is the way it's got to be, then it's time we get this over with" Zack yammers. Focused, Jason turns to Zack, a look of pure intensity sprawled across his face. "I thought you'd never ask" Jason smirks, clutching at his power morpher.

"Tyrannosaurus!" Jason shouts, morphing into the red Mighty Morphin' power ranger. Alongside his morph, Jason calls forth his power sword. Jason and Zack charge at each other, clashing power weapons. As metal scrapes, and sparks fly, it takes only a few short strikes before Zack realizes he is no match in weapon to weapon combat. Even with Zack's two handed strikes, his body exerted as far as he can muster, Jason deflects his best attacks with only one hand on his power sword. Seemingly before Zack has a chance to blink, Jason viciously disarms him. As Zack's power axe crashes to the ground, Jason sends Zack's body crashing through the office window with a powerful round kick. Completely disoriented, Zack crashes to the steel of the observation deck, motionless. As Jason slides himself out to the observation deck, Billy hurries past him, running to Zack's side. "Zack, it's going to be okay, don't move" Billy comforts his friend. Enraged, Billy turns to Jason. "Is this really what we're doing? What we've been doing all this time? I thought I was helping my country, my friends..." Billy raves, tears almost coming to his eyes. "This is a necessary step" Jason tries to assure the former blue Mighty Morphin' power ranger, as he creeps towards Zack. With perhaps his last bit of energy, Zack climbs to his feet, pushing past Billy on his way to Jason. Zack musters up every remaining ounce of his strength and grabs Jason's power sword. Zack and Jason attempt to wrestle the power sword away from each other, but neither quite succeed as it is sent plummeting off the observation deck. Wasting no time, Jason levels Zack with a wicked series of punches and kicks. Jason's onslaught knocks Zack's helmet off, as well as Zack, to his knees. "What, no more dance fighting?" Jason mocks.

"I always keep a few moves handy" Zack grins, pushing down on the ground before springing up, launching his right fist into Jason's helmeted face. As Zack's punch cracks Jason's helmet, it knocks Jason onto his back. Wasting no time, Zack crawls his way over to Billy. "Come on Bill, we gotta get out of here" Zack explains, trying to lead Billy away. Before Zack and Billy can get anywhere, Jason is back up on his feet, now helmetless like Zack. "Really, that's all you thought it would take, One lucky punch?" Jason mutters, right before knocking Zack into the steel again, and out cold with a tornado kick. Zack demorphs as, slowly, confidently, Jason walks over to his unconscious body, placing his foot on the black ranger's head. "Jason, Stop this!" Billy shrieks. Of course, Jason doesn't stop anything, beginning to push down, hard. "Then I'm sorry, but you give me no choice" Billy shouts, standing with his chest pushed out. To Jason's surprise, Billy pulls out what looks like a, not fully completed, power morpher. "Triceratops!" he yells, as Billy Cranston morphs into the blue Mighty Morphin' power ranger, for the first time in almost 20 years. Shocked but not impressed, Jason steps off of Zack and turns to Billy. "Where'd you get the toy?" Jason scowls, "Made it myself, it's still got a few glitches, but it should be more than enough to end this" Billy fires back. Billy summons his power lance, as he prepares for battle with Jason. "You sure you wanna do this, doc? I don't think the president would be happy if I hurt that little brain of yours" Jason cackles, preparing for battle himself. "You can tell the president..." Billy starts, as the president walks onto the observation deck, flanked by a dozen clones. "Tell the president what?" the president grins, while gingerly strolling towards Billy. Before long, the president reaches Billy, while the clones join Jason. Placing his hand on the doctor's shoulder, the president attempts to make physical, and verbal, contact with Billy. "My, my, Dr. Cranston, it seems like someone's been spinning your head. I assure you, your "friend" Zack is not in a proper frame of mind, and he is an enemy to this great nation" the president calms Billy, "Now, come with me, and we'll talk this whole thing out" the president gestures to an exit. "What are you going to do with Zack?" Billy responds. The president looks over at the fallen black ranger. "I assure you, he will be placed under the best care available" the president smirks, as he tells Billy. "Now, the captain and his men will lead you to my office, I'll join you in a moment" the president informs the good doctor. Billy demorphs himself before, seeming hesitant, he is carted away by Jason and the clones. Billy looks back at Zack one more time with concern, before he leaves the observation deck. Once Billy and the others are out of sight, the president steps towards the unconscious Zack Taylor, pushing him off the observation deck with his foot. An evil scowl comes over the president, as he walks off of the observation deck, leaving nothing but malice in his wake. However, before descending to his ultimate demise, Zack is pinned to the wall by his jacket, and saved, by the red Lost Galaxy ranger's Quasar Saber.

Far away, inside the narrow halls of the Hexagon, the battle continues to wage between many of the government, and non-government, power rangers. Scott, Lily, Ziggy, Hunter, and Conner hold apparent advantages over their opponents Antonio, Kevin, Rose, Mike, Jake, and Jayden. The double teaming efforts of Gia and Emma, on Kira , and Mia and Emily, on Tori, prove to be sustainable offensives, though Emily does little more than stand there. The most even match-ups come in the form of Wes v.s. Eric, Adam v.s. Will, and T.J. v.s. Troy (As Noah's already been knocked out), though Adam holds the obvious advantage in his bout. Fighting Tori, Emily turns to Mia, as they start to do heavy damage to the blue wind ranger. "Are we sure this is right?" Emily panics, "Of course this is right, what else would it be, silly?" Mia responds, "Wrong?!" Tori interjects, as she knocks Mia back hard, with her Sonic Fin. Emily, being the caring person that she is, immediately hurries to Mia's side. "Mia, are you okay?" Emily worries. Mia is unable to gather her words, prompting Emily to stand up to Tori. "I don't know about all this, but Mia's my friend, and you shouldn't have done that" Emily cries, reengaging Tori in battle. 10 meters away from Emily and Tori, Adam and Will clash. While Will only surpasses Adam in viciousness, Will possesses an undying will to succeed, weathering each of Adam's skillful attacks. "I can't believe I ever took you seriously, you're such a joke. You preach all this honor and spirit crap, but you don't know the first thing about doing the right thing. You're not a hero, I am" Will spits, at one of his most tenured black ranger predecessors, "Keep telling yourself that kid" Adam responds, easily dropping Will with a couple of spinning heel kicks. Fighting all the way through a hallway of chaos, Wes and Eric remain locked in evenly skilled combat. "You never learn, do you?" Eric mocks, blocking one of Wes' round kicks, "I'm not the one who has something to learn" Wes spits back, rocking the Quantum ranger with a front kick. As the two former best friends clash with ferocity, two red rangers who have never met before engage each other with the same force. T.J. Is impressed with Troy, as he matches him move for move. "You know, back in my day being the red ranger used to mean something. You were a leader, a take charge kind of guy, not somebody's puppet" T.J. Fires at Troy, throwing him against the wall. As Troy crumbles against the wall, his resolve is the only thing that doesn't collapse. "Soon you'll learn the error of your ways, I am leading, a new generation, a better generation, Gosei would never steer me wrong" Troy raves, trying to regain his physical composure. As the non-government rangers finally start to press the advantage against the government rangers, dozens of clones arrive on the scene, laser blasters in hand. With both ends of the hallways closed off, the clones open fire, striking mostly enemy, but some ally, alike.

Adam, Wes, Tori, Conner, Scott, Ziggy, T.J., Emily, and Eric are the only ones able to avoid the clones' initial destructive blasts, Tori and Emily only avoiding injury because Hunter and Mike choose to shield them with their own bodies. Hunter, Mike, Lily, Kira, and Emma are the only one's damaged severally enough to be demorphed on impact. Adam, Wes, Scott, Ziggy, and T.J. Attack either side of the surrounding clones, while Emily and Eric check on their teammates. Tori kneels at Hunter's wounded side, he having taken the brunt of the clones blasts. "Hunter, I..." Tori cries, "I'll be okay, just...kick their ass" Hunter wheezes, "Don't move a muscle" Tori orders, with a small smile, "Do I really have a choice?" Hunter breathes, smiling back as best he can. Tori lingers, staring at Hunter for a brief moment, before joining her friends in the fight against the clones. Just a few steps from Hunter, Kira attempts to climb to her feet. Seeing Kira in distress Conner hurries to her side. "Kira, hold on a minute" Conner worries, sitting Kira up against the wall. Conner takes one look at Kira's injuries and feels a wave of disappointment come over him, a wave of disappointment in himself. "I'm such an idiot, I should've..." Conner starts, "No, you know what? There's no excuse, I'm so sorry. I'm getting you out of here right now. I'm getting us all out of here" Conner promises, instantly using his super speed to dismantle clones. As Emily kneels beside Mike and Mia, and Eric checks on the rest of his teammates, the heavily armed clones begin to take advantage of their greatly increased numbers. While the clones' blasters prove less than effective with friends and enemies alike clustered into such tight quarters, the rangers are still outmatched. Using marginally adequate fighting skills, coupled with sheer force, the clones press all their advantages, pawing, beating, and bashing, the seasoned ranger veterans. Ziggy is the first to be taken out, being thrown by a group of clones, into a nearby wall. Despite their best efforts, T.J., Tori, Wes, Scott, and even Adam, soon follow in Ziggy's footsteps. Before long, the rangers' defeat is left solely on the shoulders of young, Conner McKnight. Conner continues to punch, kick, and claw his way through clones. Adam, Wes, T.J., and Scott quickly rejoin the fight, now demorphed, but serve as only a momentary reprieve for the red Dino Thunder ranger. While, Conner aggressively tears through clones, not a thought on his mind but victory, Tori looks to Hunter and his ailing physical condition. As pessimism takes over her regularly optimistic mind, Tori can't help but hope that help is on the way.

Hundreds of yards away from the major battle, stands, perhaps, his friends' best chance at a hero, Dillon. Morphed, Dillon finishes swatting through the few clones that were diverted from the other rangers' location, to his. Removing his helmet, Dillon leans himself up against the wall, nearest his recent one-sided fight. Discouraged, Dillon presses a button on the earpiece he's wearing. "I've searched this place from top to bottom, and I can't find anything. Are you sure the droid knows what he's talking about? I'm not leaving here without her!" Dillon booms into his earpiece, an obvious tone of anxiety in his voice. "The president wouldn't go for it either. And, don't worry, it's not like Alpha to make mistakes...keep looking, there must be something you missed" Tommy's voice assures Dillon, through his headset. Before Dillon can say anything back to Tommy, nearby steel doors swing open. From the steel doors, dozens of clones file out, running right past Dillon. To Dillon's surprise, the clones don't notice him at all, despite how poorly hidden he is by the wall to his back. As Dillon begins to continue his search, he stops dead in his tracks. As the large steel door swings open again, the president appears from it, flanked by only 4 clones, and Justin Stewart.

Practically face to face with the cause of this ranger civil war, of sorts, Dillon ponders if he should do something, and, if so, what? But before Dillon can act, his best friend, though he'd never admit it, shows up in his ear. "Um, Dillon? I think we could use a hand over here, you know, if you don't mind" Ziggy tells Dillon, in a thinly veiled attempt to hide his fears. Dillon tries to breathe, tries to find the words to tell Ziggy that, to him, finding Summer might be more important than anything else in the world, even helping his other friends. Dillon tries to put together the best words to tell Ziggy that he's not coming, that he's not going to do what Ziggy asked him to, not something that he's ever had problems with before. Just as Dillon has it on the tip of his tongue, the cries of Kira Ford shriek inside his ear. "Conner!" Kira screams, so loud that even Dillon can fully make it out. With a look of uncertainty on his face, Dillon reaches up and grabs his earpiece, shattering it in his hand. Dillon takes one step into the hallway that the president and the clones occupy, but stops dead in his tracks yet again. Dillon looks down at his ranger helmet in his hand, taking a deep breath out. Without any more hesitation, Dillon throws his helmet back onto his head, and bolts in the opposite direction of where he was just heading. Having just caught Dillon leaving, out of the corner of his eye, the president forms a devilish smirk on his face, his eyes glowing red as his entourage ushers him away.

Back to action, the clones have nearly completed their leveling of the non-government rangers. Each non-government ranger stands, or sits, keeled over in pain, the wounded rangers only awaiting the next attack of the president's henchmen as they close in. Adam, T.J., and Wes, all too tired to keep fighting; Kira at Conner's unconscious side; Scott, Ziggy, and Lily crowded together, caring for each other's injuries as best they can, and Tori, trying to keep Hunter from passing out. Abruptly, Eric Myers stands up and joins the clones. "You are all under arrest for treason" Eric mutters, "This is your last warning. Failure to comply will result in termination" he finishes. Instead of moving in for the arrest, the clones draw their blasters on the rangers again. "What are you doing? I said to arrest them" Eric demands a response. To Eric's complete shock, one of the clones removes her helmet to talk, down, to him. "We don't answer to you anymore, now stand aside Mr. Myers, or you'll end up like your ranger friends here" the clones informs Eric. "But I'm your superior officer" Eric reasons, "These orders came from the top" she, the clone, explains. Eric attempts to interject further but some of the clones raise their blasters to him, convincing him to back off. "Now then, where were we?" the helmetless clone smirks, "Let's give them a sample" she finishes, pointing to Conner and Kira. While directing traffic, the helmetless clone turns her face towards Scott, Ziggy, and Lily for a brief second. "What!?" Scott gasps, "No...way!" Ziggy copies Scott, struggling to find his breath. As Scott and Ziggy try to climb to their feet, the clones prepare to pull the trigger on Conner and Kira.

As the blasters fire, Conner and Kira are saved by a wave of dark energy, emanating from Dillon's arm. As Dillon's invincibility shield deflects their blasts, sending them back at the clones, he can't help but be a little impressed by the upgrades Alpha has made to the RPM suits. Once Dillon's split second reaction to be a hero subsides, he comes down to Earth, dropping his shield. Seeing the helmetless, female clone, Dillon demorphs immediately, with a look of disbelief on his face. "Summer!?" Dillon's heart skips a beat. Dillon slides towards "the clone", slowly and calmly. As Dillon moves, Tommy arrives on the scene, morphed, taking out every clone he can get his hands on. Quickly, "Summer" is lost in the shuffle, soon retreating with the other clones. "Wait! Summer!" Dillon cries, but is held back by two other clones. Viciously, remorselessly, Dillon breaks the arm of one clone, and the leg of the other, attempting to chase after Summer. Before Dillon can get away, Tommy steps in front of him, his arm extended to block his path. "Don't get in my way" Dillon warns the red Zeo ranger, "Wait! I need your help to get these guys outside so we can use the teleporter...please" Tommy pleads. Dillon tries to hear Tommy out, but finds himself staring through him to the fleeing clones. "But she's right there!" Dillon roars, "You're not going to be able to get her out of here by yourself. There's something going on her, bigger than we thought. We'll get to the bottom of it, and we'll come back. I promise you, we'll get her back. I know you don't think that I think it's important to me, to our team, but it is, I know it is...please" Tommy begs, something he's been finding himself doing a lot more than he'd like lately. Irate, Dillon slowly calms, as he watches the injured rangers and understands the merit of Tommy's words. Seeing the expressions of pain on their faces, even on his fellow RPM teammates Scott and Ziggy, Dillon knows that he has only one choice to make. Suppressing his own burning passion and desire, Dillon walks over to Hunter and Tori, helping Tori get Hunter up to his feet. Scott approaches Lily, who has suffered a leg injury, beginning to carry her out. Next, Tommy makes his way over to Kira and Conner. "Dr. O, is he going to be okay?" Kira worries, "He'll be fine" Tommy assures her, "Come on big guy" Tommy finishes, looking at Conner's unconscious body. Bending down, Tommy picks Conner up off the ground, throwing him over his shoulder. Finally, like a broken wave, rolling and cutting through the waves of the Hexagon, the beaten, and outright unsuccessful, non-government rangers limp their way out of the building.


	8. Chapter 8

**The Hexagon**

Outside the office where the president and Dr. Billy Cranston are engaged in conversation, guarded by Justin Stewart, stands Jason Lee Scott. With his arms crossed, Jason stands up against the wall, silently. Jason's peaceful silence is broken as the injured samurai and mega force rangers storm their way towards the office, followed closely by Will Aston, Rose Ortiz, and led by Eric Myers. "What the hell was that!?" Eric roars, stepping right in front of Jason, placing them nose to nose. Unfolding his arms, Jason reduces the distance between he and Eric Myers as much as he can. "You got a problem lieutenant Myers?" Jason smirks, "You're damn right I got a problem, those freaks of nature opened up on our entire team" Eric booms. Jason hears Eric's words, looking past him to the other injured rangers, rangers, who he technically commands. "Go clean yourselves up!" Jason orders, and, without hesitation, the rangers behind Eric begin to walk away. "Hold it right there!" Eric orders back. Responding to the growl of their former captain, the departing rangers stop for a brief second. "You heard the man" Kevin exclaims, "Yeah, an order's an order" Troy proclaims.

Turning his undivided attention to his junior rangers, Eric steps away from Jason to get in their faces. "Are you kidding me right now? Unless the president gave the order, and you can be damn sure he wouldn't, this is the guy who told those clones to grow minds of their own and waste us" Eric rants, an aggressive fire coursing through his body, "Captain Scott is our commanding officer" Jayden explains, "Yeah, we don't answer to you anymore" Will hisses. Without further hesitation, Will, Rose, Troy, Noah, Jake, Gia, Emma, Jayden, Antonio, and Kevin continue their trek down the hall. To the rest of their teammates' surprise, Mike, Emily, and Mia linger behind, with looks of both concern, and pain, on their faces. "Are you guys coming?" Antonio shouts towards his teammates, from down the hall. "Yeah!" Mia snaps out of the trance that the dramatic tension put her under, "Right, guys?" Mia asks, placing her hands on Mike and Emily. Aching, Mike clutches his wounded shoulder, injured at the hands of the clones and their blaster fire. Not without contemplation, Mike turns to Mia. "Right!" Mike answers the pink samurai ranger. After Mike's response, he and Mia begin to walk away, though Emily still does not budge. "Come on Em" Mike exclaims. With a look of determination on her face, Emily shakes her head "no". "No way, those clones could've killed you guys, they could've killed those other rangers, somebody owes us an explanation" Emily shouts, turning her attention back to Jason and Eric. Concerned, Mike walks back, putting his arm around Emily. "Come on Em, we knew we'd be in danger when we signed up. They did what they thought they had to do, and as long as I get some hazard pay, I'll be good to go" Mike smiles, trying to assure Emily that everything's alright. Despite the warmth Mike treats her with, Emily still does not move. "Come on Em, let these two fight it out, let's go take care of our friends. Some of our friends are in even worse shape than I am" Mike assures her. Finally, quietly, Emily concedes. "Okay" Emily responds, before following Mike, away from the feuding red rangers.

Having now grown impatient, Jason steps off of the wall towards Eric. "Looks like the other rangers don't exactly share your opinion" Jason smirks, "Now that the kids are gone, how about you tell me just what the hell you were thinking out there? You saw them, all that blood could've been on your hands!" Eric fires back. Abrasively, Jason gets right up in Eric's face. "Did you ever think maybe it's your fault? We did what needed to be done, you were in charge, and you guys were losing out there. The decision was made to preserve the safety of this country, I'm just sorry if you believe the needs of the many are outweighed by the needs of you" Jason argues, "Don't you turn this on me, I was doing this the right way, I've been doing this the right way the whole time. I don't know what happened to you, but once upon a time you would've done things the right way too" Eric argues back. Laughing, Jason distances himself from the quantum ranger. "You think you know me? Ha, please! I'm sick of hearing your voice, you're dismissed lieutenant, now get out of my sight!" Jason cackles. Furious, but powerless, Eric slams his fist against the wall before swaggering away. Calming himself, Jason returns to his position, leaning against the wall. The red mighty morphin' power ranger hardly gets a moment of peace before the president's office door slams open, and, in an orderly manner, the president, Dr. Billy Cranston, and Justin Stewart slide their way into the hallway.

"Well, Dr. Cranston, I have business to attend to, I'm sure you understand. I look forward to further discussing the functions of our initiative in the near future" The president tells Billy, ending their conversation. Billy appears uneasy as he starts to stagger away from the office. "Private Stewart, escort the good doctor back to the lab" the president gently orders Justin, "Sir, yes, sir" Justin rifles back, saluting the president before following Billy away. Once Billy and Justin are out of earshot, the president turns to Jason. "Dr. Cranston is too smart for his own good, have the clones deal with him" The president whispers, "You want him in the pit?" Jason asks, "No, we have use for him yet" the president explains. With a smirk on his face, the president takes half a step away from the field leader of his team, but then abruptly turns back. "Once the doctor is taken care of, have the lightspeed traitors thrown in the pit, and once your team has recovered, go ahead with the operation on Turtle Cove" the president orders, "Yes, sir" Jason complies. Without another word spoken, Jason and the president separate, heading opposite ways down the hallway. Marching through the hallway, Jason is intercepted by Trini Kwan, his former teammate, who has a slew of files in her hands. "Jason, how have you...?" Trini starts. Before Trini can finish her sentence, Jason simply walks away from her without secondary action, leaving the yellow mighty morphin' power ranger completely dumbfounded.

**The Power Chamber**

In the silence of the empty power chamber, the only thing that moves is Alpha V. Alpha is pacing back and forth nervously, that is, until the wounded rangers stumble their way down the steps. Speedily, the healthy rangers put down, and then relax, their severally injured friends. "Ay yi yi yi yi, Is everyone okay?" Alpha worries, looking to Hunter, Conner, and Lily most of all. "Not exactly" Ziggy exclaims, "Conner, Lily, and Hunter are a little worse for ware" Kira tells Alpha, "They got Ryan, and Joel...and Zack" Tommy explains, bringing an immediate somber mood to the room. "I don't know about Lightspeed, but rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated" Zack's voice rings out, breaking the tension as he hobbles down the stairs. "Zack, how did you...?" Tommy starts, "With a little help from some friends" Zack explains, as the, morphed, red and pink galaxy rangers enter the power chamber. Leo Corbett and Karone stop to demorph before approaching their ranger brethren. "Karone! Leo! Thanks for coming" T.J. Cheers, hurrying towards the galaxy rangers. "We came as soon as we could" Karone explains, "Always happy to answer the call" Leo adds. With a look of uneasiness on her face, Karone reaches out and grabs T.J.'s shoulder. "Where are they keeping my brother?" Karone asks. Before T.J. Can give an unfruitful response, they are interrupted by Dillon. "I searched that place from top to bottom, they're not holding anyone" Dillon explains, frustration evident in his voice. "They have to be there, I watched them drag them inside" T.J. Reasons, "I don't know what to tell you but your friends aren't there. But you know who is there? Summer Landsdown, my girlfriend, and for some reason she likes to point a gun at her friends now. That's something I want to get to the bottom of because that's something I know that I can fix. But someone, thought it'd be better for us to retreat" Dillon raves, his anger indirectly targeting Tommy. "Don't worry, guy's got a little problem with authority" Scott smiles, informing Tommy of Dillon's headstrong nature, as if he didn't already know. Before tensions flare, Lily's scream rings out, diffusing the volatile situation.

Concerned and caring, Kira and Scott scurry to Lily's side. "Are you okay?" Kira asks, "I think it's dislocated" Lily explains, clinching her teeth to try to mask her pain. Hearing her problem, Adam Park hurries to the younger rangers' aid. "May I?" Adam asks, Lily nodding in approval. "Alpha, where are the medical scissors?" Adam asks. Immediately, Alpha walks off, returning in less than 30 seconds with a large pair of scissors. "Hold still" Adam calmly suggests to Lily, before cutting the leg of her torn pants off. Examining Lily's knee, it's obvious there's a problem. "It's definitely dislocated, we're going to have to re-set it. Now, hold still. Scott, Kira, help us out. Don't worry, I've done this a few times myself" Adam informs, and orders. Complying to Adam's qualm, Scott and Kira help to brace Lily. With swift precision, Adam wastes no time, forcing Lily's knee back in place. Lily's agonizing scream only holds briefly, before a huge sigh of relief rushes through her body. Lily's sigh of relief is shared by Kira and Scott, who let her go, as well as the rest of her fellow rangers in the room, that is, until Hunter collapses to the floor. "Hunter!" Tori cries, dropping to her knees to join him on the ground. Seeing the Crimson ranger in distress, Wes joins Tori, quickly helping her get Hunter up, and onto a comfortable bench. Looking at Hunter closely, Tori instantly notices the blood seeping through his shirt, and, to a lesser extent, his jacket. Right away Tori springs into action, removing his shirt and jacket as quickly as possible, during which, she is joined by Adam. "He's bleeding everywhere, his wounds, they're so deep...there's nothing I can do" Tori panics to Adam, tears beginning to flow from her eyes. Adam takes a deep breath, placing his hand on his teammate's shoulder. "Relax, everything's going to be okay, I'll do my best to take care of him. I've had to deal with stuff like this more than you'd think, Hunter'll be fine. Now, take it easy and get some fresh air, you watching this can only hurt" Adam calms Tori, before turning his attention to Hunter, as he practically fights for every breath. "Alpha, give me a hand here" Adam calls, as Tori slowly backs off from her injured boyfriend, scaling the stairs to the outside.

Watching as Tori exits, Kira leaves Lily in Scott's capable hands, as she climbs the stairs to follow her. Kira easily catches up to Tori, only 10 yards from the entrance to the power chamber. As Kira approaches, Tori turns around to greet her, with tears in her eyes, trying not to let them flow freely down her face. Kira accepts her gut reaction, and embraces her friend with a hug. "Don't worry, it's going to be okay, he's tough...he'll pull through" Kira reasons, "But if he doesn't..." Tori starts, but is unable to complete her sentence. Before Tori can put herself back together, Kira takes command of the situation. "Don't worry about if he doesn't, he's going to, you just have to hang in there" Kira explains, "You just have to be strong, Conner's unconscious right now and you don't see me freaking out. This kinda thing happens all the time in our kinda work, we just have to believe that everything's going to be okay" Kira adds. Finally regaining her composure, Tori makes proper eye contact with her friend, to properly convey the true sincerity of her words. "It's not the same, you don't love Conner, I love Hunter, and if he dies, a part of me dies too" Tori exclaims. Kira doesn't offer a verbal reaction to Tori's words, simply looking down at the ground. "Unless...you love Conner!" Tori concludes. Before Tori and Kira's conversation can progress any further, they are interrupted by Dillon, as he storms passed them, and into a nearby alley.

Under cover of darkness, Dillon stalks his own shadow through the eerily vacant city streets, stopping only when he hears the sound of a metallic "bang". "Who's there?" Dillon growls, "Just your friendly neighborhood spider-man" the voice of the man that caused the sound rings out, "Just kidding, could you imagine?" the figure finishes, as he steps out of the shadows, revealing himself to be the, morphed, RPM green ranger, Ziggy Grover. "Really getting the hang of this teleporting thing you know...now, just where do you think you're going?" Ziggy questions Dillon, the man who he considers to be his best friend. "I'm going after Summer, they might not know where their friends are, but I know exactly where Summer is. I should've never left her in the first place" Dillon barks, "Are you kidding man? Did you see the fire power they have? Wait for help" Ziggy reasons. Ziggy's suggestion instantly aggravates Dillon. "If I wait any longer I might lose her again, besides, I work better alone" Dillon roars, "Come on man, you walk in there 1000 to 1 and get yourself captured, or killed, then who's going to save her? It sure as hell won't be me, I mean, I'll try, but if you can't do it, what chance do you think I got?" Ziggy explains, trying to reason with a reckless animal of a half-human being. Dillon somehow manages to find a way to convey even more intensity, as he moves himself nose to nose with Ziggy, who responds by demorphing. "Ziggy, listen...I'm so close, and nothing is going to stop me from getting to the bottom of all this, and bringing Summer back home" Dillon shouts, "I'm begging you, think this through. We'll get her back man, that's a promise" Ziggy pleads, but Dillon is tired of talking. Dillon begins to angrily swagger away, without another word. "Dillon!" Ziggy begs. Dillon continues to walk away, but then suddenly stops dead in his tracks. Dillon takes a deep breath before turning around and walking back towards Ziggy. Ziggy opens his mouth to speak, but Dillon interrupts. "Shut up" Dillon mutters, as he passes Ziggy, heading back towards the power chamber. Ziggy smiles as he watches Dillon walk. "You coming?" Dillon screeches. Ziggy says no more words, uncharacteristically, only following Dillon closely behind.

Dillon, Ziggy, Tori, and Kira reenter the power chamber, only to find that, now, Tommy, Adam, Zack, T.J. and Alpha are the only ones still in the main area. Tori and Kira, who enter the main area first, make their way towards the veteran rangers. "Where's Hunter?" Tori asks, "And Conner?" Kira adds, "They're resting, they're going to be okay" Adam assures the girls. Before Tori can thank Adam, Tommy interjects. "You two should get some rest too, while you can" Tommy tells the yellow dino thunder, and blue ninja storm, rangers. Tori and Kira respect the veteran ranger's idea and leadership, heading towards the sleeping chambers. "And keep your hands off those two, those boys needs some rest" Zack smiles, "At least watch out for the stitches" T.J. Teases. Meaning to heed the veteran's words, Tori and Kira turn the corner towards the sleeping chambers, Dillon and Ziggy having already done the same, during the previous conversation. With all the young rangers away, Tommy looks at the tired, hurt faces of the grizzled ranger veterans that surround him, men who he now considers to be his closest friends. "You guys should get some rest too, nobody knows what's gonna happen next?" Tommy explains, "Yo Tommy, I still need to talk to you about what happened at the Hexagon" Zack starts, "It can wait until tomorrow, we've had a long day" Tommy interjects, derailing Zack's train of thought. "Aight man, but first thing tomorrow...It's big" Zack warns, before drifting off to the sleeping chambers, followed closely by T.J. "Goodnight guys" T.J. Adds, as they turn the corner. Instead of following the black mighty morphin', and red turbo, rangers, Adam starts typing away on a control panel, yawning the whole time. "Get some rest Adam, you too Alpha, or recharge,or whatever. We have to be ready for whatever comes next" Tommy reasons. Taking this as a welcome invitation, Adam yawns once more, before heading towards the sleeping chambers himself. Responding to Tommy himself, Alpha plugs himself in, beginning his recharge phase. With the main chamber of the power chamber empty, save an offline robot, Tommy ponders what to do with himself, opting just to sit in a nearby leather chair. Exhausted himself, Tommy turns off the lights in the chamber, before leaning back in his chair. Tommy passes his time toying the wedding ring on his finger, as he nods off into slumber.


	9. Chapter 9

**The Power Chamber**

Still hours before sunrise in Angel Grove, the young, brash Conner McKnight wakes up in his power suit. Without hesitation Conner demorphs, as he sits up in his bed. Surprised and breathless, Conner begins to take in his darkened surroundings, just as quickly as his eyes and brain can process the information. Breathing a sigh of relief, Conner realizes that he is safe within the power chamber, and not still out on the battlefield, where he was, the last time he checked. Even more surprising to Conner is that, as he turns to his far right, he sees Kira Ford asleep in a chair by his bedside. With a smile on his face, Conner steps out of bed. Shakily, Conner brings with him the blanket from said bed. Next, Conner approaches Kira, covering her with the warm blanket that he clutches in his cold hands. After pausing for a fleeting second to continue to stare at Kira, Conner manages to stumble his way out of the room, and, into the communal area of the power chamber's sleeping quarters. As Conner staggers through the dark, he takes the time to observe his fellow rangers' sleeping patterns, including; Ziggy's snoring, Hunter and Tori's cuddling, and Lily's sleep walking. In fact, Conner is a little surprised when he realizes that he may be the only one awake in the entire building, but, as Conner prepares to cut the corner to the main area, he catches Dillon out of the corner of his eye. Dillon sits up in his bed, his back leaning on the wall where a bed's headboard would normally be, with an intensely pensive grimace on his face. "Jeez that guy's creepy" Conner jokes to himself, as he continues turning the corner to the command center area.

Under the only illuminated bulb in the entire power chamber, Tommy Oliver sits, writing in a small black book. Conner wonders what Tommy's writing, as he approaches where his mentor sits. "Hey Dr. O, what I miss while I was out?" Conner exclaims. Startled by the young, red Dino Thunder ranger's voice, Tommy slams his notebook shut, turning around in his seat. "Do you really wanna know?" Tommy responds, "That bad, huh?" Conner responds, right back. Taking control of the room, regardless of it's contents, as a true leader usually does, Tommy stands up from his chair, emphatically stepping towards one of his young proteges. "The whole thing turned was a failure, the president wouldn't listen and Dillon didn't find his girlfriend. They got Ryan and Joel, they didn't even make it back to the power chamber" Tommy explains, beginning to shake with nervous energy. "You alright Dr. O? I've never seen you this worked up. Don't worry, we'll get them back...we'll get them all back. We'll save the day just like we always do" Conner consoles his former teacher. Tommy continues to be uneasy, shuffling nervously on the spot. "It's not the same this time Conner, I can't find a way out of this fight. I can't bring this thing to a peaceful resolution, and, for the first time, the people on the other side from us don't deserve to die" Tommy tells Conner, in an attempt to come to grips with the harsh reality that the blind optimism he's always held in the past, just, may not suffice this time. "So you're what, just thinking about giving up? Cuz I got to tell you, you can be damn sure that I'm not" Conner asserts himself. Finally, Tommy cools his demeanor, placing his hand on his former student's shoulder. "When have you ever known me to give up? That's one thing I'll never do. I just...I need time to think" Tommy assures Conner, "If you say so Dr. O" Conner accepts his mentor's explanation, "I'm going to go get some more rest, I've got a splitting headache" Conner finishes, beginning to walk away from Tommy. Before completely disappearing out of the red Zeo ranger's sight, Conner swings his body back around. "And since when do you wear a wedding ring?" Conner exclaim, pointing to the former black Dino Thunder ranger's hands. Before Tommy can answer Conner's question, the power chamber's alarm rings out, completely interrupting them.

"Mowp! Mowp! Mowp!" the power chamber's alarm continues to ring. The disruptive alarm immediately activates Alpha's sensors, forcing him back on line. Without hesitation, Alpha hurries over to a control panel, vigorously pressing buttons to get a reading on the supposed attack. Next, Dillon hurries into the command center area of the power chamber, fully dressed, followed closely by Scott and Zack, in sweats. Adam and Wes in nothing but shorts, Kira in a dress, and T.J. And Ziggy in their pajamas follow very shortly after. "Ay yi yi, the hexagon agents have touched down in Turtle Cove" Alpha exclaims, informing the group of rangers that the government has made their move towards the powerless Wild Force rangers. "What do they want in Turtle Cove? The Wild Force rangers are powerless" Adam explains, "The president doesn't care anymore, he'll eliminate anyone that poses a threat" Tommy reasons. Tommy's tone of voice deeply conveys the seriousness of the issue to his fellow rangers. "Then they're sitting ducks" Kira worries, "Not for long!" Conner cheers, taking the center of the room. "I'm coming too, they're my friends" Wes exclaims, joining Conner. Anxious, Scott steps up, joining two of his fellow red rangers as the entire room's center of attention. "Alright then, so what's the play fearless leader?" Scott wonders, shifting the entire room's attention back to Tommy, where it, more than usually, is. With the room having now been filled with the likes of Lily, and Leo and Karone aswell, the situation seems dire, but the rangers are ready to act. Tommy is visibly at a loss for words, unsure of any strategic step to take, as he tries to think of a way to avoid meaningless ranger on ranger confrontation. Dillon focuses in on Tommy's stammering and is surprised at his sudden shift in character, but also, is not familiar enough with the man himself, to know if this is an unnatural reaction. "I say we help them" Conner shouts, seriously, but with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, well aware that he's stating what should be the obvious.

"Here Alpha, send Kira, Wes, Adam, Zack, and the RPM guys over to help out. The rest of you get ready and join us in no later than 10 minutes. We can beat these guys, this can all end here" Conner takes charge, "Yeah, one problem with your little plan...I'm going after the president" Dillon chimes in, "And this time around I'm going where ever he's going" Ziggy adds, "Me too then, sorry man" Scott finishes. Selflessly, Dillon takes the calmest tone he's had in a week. "No, you go with them, they're going to need all the help they can get. The hexagon's guard'll be down, we'll be able to walk right in" Dillon reasons with Scott. Impatiently, Conner gets antsy. "Alright then, let's hurry it up. Alpha?" Conner chirps. No more time to spare, Alpha presses multiple buttons on a nearby control panel, but, to his dismay, nothing happens. "Ay yi yi, the teleporter is down" Alpha panics, "Can you fix it?" Karone asks, "We'll do our best" Adam jumps in, joining Alpha in an attempt to repair their teleportation systems. Anxiously, the non-government rangers squirm, hoping for the best, but expecting the worst to happen to the Wild Force rangers, as they wait, helplessly. With tensions near an all time high, Zack approaches his long time friend, Dr. Tommy Oliver. "Yo Tommy, I gotta talk to you...It can't wait no more" Zack blurts out, quickly leading Tommy away from the commotion of the other rangers.

**Turtle Cove**

Under a lampshade of darkness, clones roam the streets of Turtle Cove, as they battle Cole Evans, Alyssa Enrile, and Taylor Earhardt, the unmorphed, former red, white, and yellow Wild Force rangers. Powerless, the 3 past rangers are being heavily overwhelmed, largely running for cover in their "fight". Ducking behind a dumpster in hopes of a momentary reprieve, Alyssa turns to Cole and Taylor. "We need to contact Danny and Max, and make sure they're okay" Alyssa exclaims. Before the former Wild Force rangers can act, their peace is interrupted by a deep, commanding voice. "Don't worry about it, you'll be joining them soon enough" Jason booms, arriving on the scene, flanked by Justin Stewart, and the Megaforce rangers. "Jason!?" Cole gasps, "Come on kid, don't make this any harder than it has to be" Jason quickly responds, "What?" Cole reacts, just as quickly, and in complete surprise. Taking a commanding stance, the morphed, red Mighty Morphin' power ranger prepares to attack. "Troy?" Jason jerks the leader of the Megaforce rangers into attention, "Right!" Troy responds, instantly leading his ranger allies into surrounding the 3 former Wild Force rangers. Cole takes one look at their surroundings and realizes that he and his friends are outnumbered, outmatched, and outclassed. "Guys, run!" Cole shouts, prompting Alyssa and Taylor to swiftly slide their way through the Megaforce rangers, with him. Sprinting through alleys, being slowly brightened by the rising of the sun, Cole, Alyssa, and Taylor flee as though their entire lives depend on it...because they just might. As the clones and government rangers seep away from sight, Cole, Alyssa, and Taylor begin to think they just might be safe, stopping to catch their breath.

"Hold it right there!" the strong voice of Eric Myers interrupts the Wild Force rangers' brief rest period. "Eric, what are you...?" Taylor asks, surprised, "Just surrender, make it easy on yourselves" Eric immediately fires back. In expectation of a serious fight, about to be brought on by the quantum ranger, as well as the 2 Operation Overdrive rangers, and the 6 Samurai rangers, standing behind him, Cole, Alyssa, and Taylor take a fighting stance. With the odds already surely against them, Cole, Alyssa, and Taylor prepare for the worst, but, before they are able to throw fists or feet, they are surrounded by the rest of the government rangers. (Jason, Justin, and the Megaforce rangers). As they arrive on the scene, Jason can't help but look disgusted. "What you people don't quite seem to get is that, if you're not part of the solution then, you're part of the problem" Jason proclaims, preparing to bring to the former Wild Force rangers, his own unique blend of justice. "Take 'em down" Jason orders. Without hesitation the Megaforce rangers close in on Cole, Alyssa, and Taylor. "Go, go Megaforce" the young rangers shouts, before activating their morphers, and taking on their morphed forms. With Troy, Noah, Jake, Emma, and Gia's transformation, It becomes horribly obvious that Cole, Alyssa, and Taylor are no match for the disciples of Gosei, as they are swiftly dealt heavy damage by their enemies palms (and fists). Before long, it is all the 3 former Wild Force rangers can do, just to keep fighting. As Cole tries to come to Alyssa's aid, he is knocked down by Troy, and, as Taylor tries to come to Cole's aid, she is knocked down by Gia. Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, like a beacon of hope sent down to Earth from the heavens above, the 3 Wild Force rangers are jolted by beams of celestial light, colored the hues of their old ranger suits. As Jason, Justin, and Eric, 3 seasoned rangers, look on, they know this can only mean one thing...the power's returned.

"Wild Access!" Cole, Taylor, and Alyssa yell without pause, drawing their growl phones from their pockets, and pressing the buttons on them to initiate their morph. Engulfed in an array of light, the 3 former Wild Force rangers drop the first part of their moniker, as they morph into the red, white, and yellow Wild Force rangers once again. "Ooh, real original" Will hisses, "I think they look kind of cool" Rose exclaims. Proud to be a ranger once more, Taylor turns to Eric and the Samurai rangers. "What was that you were saying about us turning ourselves in?" Taylor smiles, taunting the former captain of both the silver guardians, and all the government affiliated rangers. The 5 Megaforce rangers attack the Wild Force rangers once again, but this time, don't fair nearly as well. Alyssa handles Emma and Gia, while Cole battles Troy, and Taylor surprises Noah and Jake, by making quick work of them, as she kicks them into temporary unconsciousness. Within seconds, Troy is the only Megaforce ranger left standing. Troy doesn't manage to stay on his feet much longer either, being hurled into the wall, and subsequently the ground, by the red Wild Force ranger. "Leave Turtle Cove" Cole shouts, "And you're going to make us?" Justin laughs, pacing towards the red Wild Force ranger. Before Justin makes it all the way to Cole, he is interrupted by a booming voice. "Stop! He's mine" Jason barks, taking one step forward before morphing, on the spot. As the red Mighty Morphin' power ranger stands face to face with the red Wild Force ranger, he can't help but posture a cocky grin under his helmet. "You ready rookie? I'm not going to be so easy on you this time" Jason jests, "You're forgetting one thing..." Cole starts, an obvious determination in his voice, "I'm not a rookie anymore". Without any further qualms, Cole attacks Jason, striking at him with both feet and fist, rapidly. Cole's first few strikes connect. but as the fight progresses, Cole's quick strikes become less effective. The original red ranger begins to easily dodge the red Wild Force ranger's strikes, once the element of surprise wears off. Continuing to outmaneuver Cole, Jason picks his opening, grabbing the red Wild Force ranger's attacking leg, and hurling him to the ground.

"Are you guys just going to stand there?" Jason growls, immediately bringing his troops to attention. "But you said he's all yours?" Kevin asks, confused, "There's two other rangers standing right there" Jason explains, applying the simplest of logic, as he gestures towards Alyssa and Taylor. At this point, Cole lunges upwards, attacking Jason once again, but this time Jason catches him, hurling him into the side of a nearby building. With his opponent momentarily subdued, and his friends rushing to help him up, Jason turns to his underlings once again. "Yellow and Pink Samurai...deal with the pink Wild Force ranger" Jason orders, "She's the white ranger" Emily exclaims, "Whatever" Jason roars back. Concerned, Mia turns to Emily. "You heard him Em" Mia states, simply, "He doesn't even know our names, I'm telling you, none of this feels right" Emily explains. Stepping forward to help Emily in the only way he can think of, Mike takes charge. "I'll fight the white ranger" Mike shouts. Jason looks at Mike with a look of mock surprise on his face, a charade he's putting on for no reason, as nobody can see his expression under his helmet. "I wouldn't want things to be unfair, now would I?" Jason smirks, "Trust me, I'm not that good" Mike responds, giving the honest truth. "No, don't worry, we'll carry out our order, right Em?" Mia interjects. As the wheels turn slowly inside her head, Emily does her best to convince herself that she's just being paranoid, and that they are doing the right thing. "Right!" Emily complies to Mia, following her unenthusiastically behind, as they attempt to fight Alyssa. As Mia and Emily reign down on Alyssa, Taylor quickly joins the fight, more than evening the odds. As Cole slowly collects himself, Jason seeks the same control over his team that Cole wants over his body. "Myers, eliminate the yellow ranger from the equation" Jason directs Eric, "But..." Eric starts, defiantly, "Disobeying direct orders, why am I not surprised?" Jason scowls. Before Jason can scorn the quantum ranger, Will Aston steps towards them. "We'll take her down, sir" Will volunteers, "Fine" Jason concedes, sending forward the two Operation Overdrive rangers on his team, into battle with the yellow Wild Force ranger. As Will and Rose attack Taylor, the battle-lines become clearly drawn.

From out of nowhere, the battle-lines become blurred once again, as Merrick Baliton, the morphed, lunar wolf Wild Force ranger, drops his way into the middle of the battlefield, coming from a nearby rooftop. "Merrick!" Alyssa gasps, in excitement and slight relief, "I hoped you'd come" Cole adds, "Of course" Merrick smiles from under his helmet, addressing his former teammates for the first time in years. "Another one?" Justin sighs, "Excellent, I couldn't wait to get my hands dirty" Kevin cheers. Spawned by the arrival of the Lunar Wolf, Justin, Kevin, Jayden, and Antonio inch closer to Merrick, with an aching to fight. "You should've brought more guys" Merrick smirks. Mike slowly surveys the surrounding ranger on ranger combat, as he slowly picks up the rear, piecing together in his head the information that he's gathered, and trying to figure out where things all went wrong.


	10. Chapter 10

**The Power Chamber**

Inside the Command Center area of the power chamber, the rangers continue to wait, impatiently, for Alpha and Adam to fix the teleporter. "No offense guys, but could you go any faster" Conner asks anxiously, "I assure you, we are going as fast as we can" Adam tells Conner, surprised that the young red ranger would ever think for a second that they may not be. Putting her hand on Conner's shoulder, Kira joins the conversation. "And if you bug them anymore they're never going to get this thing done" Kira teases Conner. Desperate to get into battle and help his fellow rangers, Conner sighs, putting his hands atop his head as he walks away from the room's control panels. "Hey Dr. O, how long do you think it would take me to run there?" Conner wonders, searching for any way to come to the Wild Force rangers aid. To Conner's surprise he receives no response, having not noticed that his mentor had already left the room, with Zack. "Dr. O?" Conner asks again, in a state of slight confusion. Worried, as most of the other rangers are, T.J. Turns to Leo and Karone. "What about your Jet Jammers? Can you guys make it over there to help them?" T.J. Infers, "They're really not that fast" Karone explains, "And if Alpha gets the teleporter fixed, we might just miss the battle entirely" Leo adds. Interrupting the conversation between former teammates, Lily steps up to T.J., Leo, and Karone. "Well we can't just do nothing" Lily exclaims. Standing behind Lily, Scott is impressed because, while she does not actually know the Wild Force rangers, she still wants to help just as badly as anyone; a truly compassionate person. Nervous and seemingly out of options, a thick silence comes over the room.

"I'm out of here" Dillon breaks the silence. The eyes of the entire room turn to Dillon, in surprise of his abrasive statement, one that he chose to make at their greatest time of distress. "I'm sorry about your friends, I am, but I'm not coming with you guys anyway. I still have to get back to the Hexagon and, in all honesty, if you guys don't make it over there soon, the fights going to be over and I'm going to be stuck going against an army of evil rangers and armored freaks" Dillon conveys his thought process to his fellow ranger allies. While the more help you can get is obviously for the better, the power chamber rangers are unable to find a real flaw in his logic, leaving them silent, and leaving Dillon to do what he chooses. As Dillon and Ziggy take a small step towards the door, Conner halts them. "Yo, wait a minute" Conner shouts, gaining the RPM rangers' attentions, "I just wanted to tell you guys I'm sorry, the 3 of you.." Conner continues, addressing Dillon, Ziggy, and Scott, who move closer to him as he speaks. "It's come to my attention that I wasn't the nicest guy to you guys when you first showed up, and it's not just cuz you saved my ass in the hexagon, though that was pretty cool, it's cuz you're decent guys and good rangers. So thanks, I guess? And... Dillon, Ziggy, Scott, if your work here ends today, then know that I was wrong, and that we all thank you for what you've done...even if it didn't work out so well" Conner finishes his attempt to apologize for not believing the RPM rangers; about where they came from, about what they stood for, and even the fact that they were power rangers, when they first arrived.

Dillon holds a look of surprise on his face at the conclusion of Conner's words, while Ziggy and Scott share looks of sincerity. "Don't mention it, seriously, don't mention it" Dillon responds, dismissively. Next, Ziggy reaches out and grabs both of Conner's shoulders. "No, thank you...and might I add, that that was mighty big of you to say" Ziggy smiles, "Yeah, I didn't know he had it in him" Kira chimes in, "Hey, Dr. O's not here...for some reason...somebody has to do it" Conner smirks. Now, no longer tolerant of this flat-lining display of pleasantries, Dillon becomes agitated. "Okay, so unless you feel like sharing your feelings some more...we're gonna go now" Dillon prods Conner, as he slightly drags Ziggy by the arm, towards the exit. "Oh don't worry about him, he's always like this. Beautiful, beautiful words" Ziggy rambles, as Dillon leads him up the stairs, and out of the power chamber. As easy as Dillon had distracted everyone from their tensions for a brief instant, the tensions flood their way back into the power chamber, as the non-government rangers hope/wonder if the Wild Force rangers will even be able to survive the government rangers' onslaught.

**Turtle Cove**

As the battle in an alley, now in broad day light, continues to rage, the red, yellow, white, and lunar wolf, Wild Force rangers find themselves outnumbered and over-matched, like enemies of the agents of the hexagon often do. Alyssa finds herself landing no offense whatsoever, as she struggles to avoid the blades of Emily and Mia's spin swords. Taylor finds herself easily capable of incapacitating Rose, and defeating either of her two attackers in hand to hand combat, but she is rendered nothing but defensive against Will and his wild swings of his Drive Slammer. Fairing the best of the four Wild Force rangers, is Merrick, as he manages to fight evenly against 4 rangers; Jayden, Kevin, Antonio, and Justin. The Wild Force rangers are left even more uneasy than their beating would dictate, as the entirety of this battle continues to be waged, with Mike and Eric simply standing and watching.

Several yards away from the rest of this close corners brawl, Cole is fighting a losing battle in his clash of red rangers, against the original, Jason. As Cole attempts to lunge at Jason, he is thrust in the chest by Jason's foot, and a powerful front kick, sending him crashing to the ground. "Give up kid, there's just no way you can beat me" Jason smirks, from under his helmet. Out of breath, having just had the wind knocked out of him, and in visible pain, Cole struggles to his feet. "I will do whatever it takes to protect the innocent" Cole growls, lunging towards Jason once more. Cole manages to hit Jason with two punches to the face before being floored again, this time by his spring hip throw. "You sure man? Last chance" Jason taunts. As swiftly as Cole possibly can, with his injuries, he draws his claws from the gloves of his power suit, slashing Jason's calf mercilessly. Cole's slash effectively drops Jason to one knee. "You little bitch, you're going to pay for that" Jason shouts, "It's you who's going to pay...for everything" Cole shouts back. With visible pride taken in it, Cole climbs to his feet and stands tall.

"Animarium Armor...Red Savage Warrior!" Cole calls, transitioning seamlessly into his battlized form, and floating up into the air using his newly reacquired wings. "You gonna come down from there?" Jason bellows, "Now it's your turn to get on my level" Cole yells down, "Then I'll just have to bring you down" Jason responds, almost automatically. As a true veteran would, without a hint of hesitation, Jason draws his blade blaster, firing up into the air at Cole. "Falcon Armor!" Cole screams, dropping to the ground as the wings of his battlizer cover his body, deflecting away each of Jason's attacks, while doing damage to the surrounding buildings. "Falcon Armor, Power down!" Cole exclaims, before dropping his guard. Intuitively, Jason fires his blade blaster once again, but this time Cole takes off, back into the air to avoid the shots. "Running away? I wouldn't blame you" Jason mocks, "That's one thing I'll never do...Falcon Blast!" Cole almost cheers, as he fly's towards Jason while firing a mighty blast from his battlizer, one that strikes the spot Jason is standing. Cole's blast strikes the ground with a large explosion, rocking all the other rangers in the alley, spanning all the way out to the street corner. As parts of the surrounding buildings collapse, Cole pauses his short flight to survey the damage he caused, but is surprised to find no remnants of Jason. "What?" Cole is confused. Cole is spared no time to deal with his confusion, as he is struck in the chest by the Power Sword which Jason hurls at him, from the spot that he rolled away to. The impact of Jason's sword strike disengages Cole's Animarium armor, sending him tumbling to the alley below, that impact demorphing him entirely. Picking up his Power Sword, Jason stands over the beaten and battered red Wild Force ranger, triumphant.

Almost on cue with Cole's defeat, the remaining Wild Force rangers begin to crumble. Alyssa is demorphed and knocked out when a reluctant Mike steps in and strikes her with his spin sword, to save Emily. Taylor is demorphed, but not knocked unconscious, when Rose holds her still so that Will can strike her clean with the Drive Slammer. Will's strike devastates both women but, of course, Will feels little remorse for all of it, as he has succeeded, and will be getting a hefty paycheck. The only Wild Force ranger left standing is Merrick, who finds himself utterly thrashed, now having to contest his friends' attackers as well, sans Jason. As things turn grim for the stray Wild Force rangers, Eric Myers continues to not lift a finger, for either side, as he begins to come to a sad realization.

**Streets Of Angel Grove**

Walking through the first street once one's made their way up from the underground power chamber, Dillon and Ziggy pass, though on the other side of the road, Tommy and Zack, who are engulfed by intense conversation. "I'm tellin' you man, it was him. Do you not think I know what the guy looks like?" Zack verbally mauls Tommy, "No, It just can't be him, there's no way that Jason would willingly go through with any of this" Tommy insists, that his former best friend would not now be one of his greatest enemies. Aggravated, but understanding of Tommy's frame of mind, a mind that houses the same disbelief he first had, Zack continues. "I'm tellin' you man, it's the truth. I seen him with my own two eyes, otherwise I might not believe it myself" Zack guarantees Tommy, that there is no margin of error in his statement. As stress pounds on the red Zeo ranger's mind, body, and spirit, Tommy fights a battle with himself to hold it back. "Then we'll just have to deal with him the same way we've dealt with everyone else" Tommy concludes. Unconvinced, Zack adopts a look on his face, one with a slight hint of disappointment. "What, with poor results?" Zack starts, "I mean no offense man, but we're not exactly winning this one, there's going to be a day where something serious has gotta be done" Zack finishes.

Not used to having nothing to say, Tommy tries to reason, using ideas that even he himself knows, likely won't work. "Well we'll talk to him, reason with him" Tommy starts, "I tried man, it didn't work. I swear, it's like his mind's just set, it ain't even open for suggestions" Zack immediately interjects. An awkward silence instantly falls over the two, as both veteran rangers realize that they have no clue where to go from here, that this war may just go on until one side is obliterated entirely. Once the lengthy pause dies down, Tommy takes on a more solemn tone. "Is there anything else?" Tommy asks, hardly enthused. Zack contemplates telling Tommy that another former friend and teammate, Billy Cranston, is, in fact, "the doctor" that they've heard so much about. Zack contemplates telling Tommy that, from their viewpoint, they've been betrayed once again, but Zack figures that Tommy's had enough for one day. Zack chooses to end their conversation there and return to the power chamber because he feels, he knows, that if he were to place anymore pressure on their leader right now, any more than he places on himself, he just might break. Left to nothing but his own devices, Tommy stays behind, smashing his fist against the wall of a building as Zack turns the corner.

**The Power Chamber**

The commotion of the power chamber's alarms, coupled with the sounds of dozens of ranger footsteps, have long since awoken Tori Hanson. Though wide awake, Tori makes the conscious decision to continue to lay in her bed with her injured boyfriend, Hunter Bradley. Tori knows that something major must be happening, and that it's her duty as a ranger, and a human-being, to aid her friends in dealing with the threat. Still, Tori does not move. Tori refuses to move, because she knows that if she gets up and abandons this moment of peace, she may just never get another one. As Tori tries to justify her choice to herself, Hunter wakes up beside her. "Hey Tor, what's going on?" Hunter groans, obviously still half asleep. Her moment of solitude broken, Tori sits up in the bed. "Who knows" Tori answers Hunter, offering him no helpful information. Visibly struggling, Hunter sits up in the bed to meet her. "Well then, what are you waiting for? Go see" Hunter chirps, telling Tori to do what she already knew she should. Despite knowing that Hunter is right, Tori denies him a response. "Come on" Hunter smiles, "I'd go myself, but I kinda sprung a leak" Hunter concludes, lifting up the blanket to show small amounts of blood, that have dripped onto it from his previous wounds. Finally, Tori concedes. "You're right, you're always right" Tori tells Hunter, preparing to get out of bed. Lingering for only a moment, Tori completes the daunting task of getting out of bed, abandoning her happiness and getting back into the fight. Tori puts on fresh clothes quickly and then steps towards the exit. "I can't believe I almost forgot" Tori pauses, coming back around, and kissing Hunter, before exiting the room entirely.

Just as Tori enters the command area of the power chamber, she is met with the great news, though she doesn't fully comprehend it yet, of Alpha telling the impatiently waiting rangers, that the teleporter is back online. Alpha announces this fact to a chorus of mildly uproarious cheers. The response to Alpha's statement dies down, just as Zack reenters the area. "Where's Dr. O?" Kira asks Zack, "Yeah...He's gonna need a minute or two" Zack responds, "But it can't wait" Conner adds. The situation dire, the non-government rangers look to someone to step up and make a decision. "Then we go without him" Scott commands, "Scott's right, this can't wait" Conner complies to Scott. Without question, the rangers prepare for teleport. "I'm gonna hang back and run diagnostics on our teleportation systems, make sure that this doesn't happen again" Adam briefly breaks the aggressive mood of the ranger crowd. Adam's fellow rangers accept his words, before Conner, Kira, Scott, Lily, T.J., Wes, Zack, Leo, and Karone, teleport their way out of the power chamber, in sparkling streams of light, colored to match their ranger designations.

**Turtle Cove**

Meanwhile, the Wild Force rangers' battle against the government's rangers has ended, and they've lost. The demorphed Cole, Alyssa, Taylor, and Merrick hobble together, hardly able to stand. In front of the withered Wild Force rangers stands a strong line of Jason, Justin, Will, Rose, the Samurai rangers, the Megaforce rangers, and the quantum ranger, Eric Myers. The government rangers who, for all intents and purposes, serve as the president's personal lapdogs, move in on Wild Force for their final strike. "Can I finish them off?" Will hisses, "No" Jason immediately, boldly responds, "I want him to do it" Jason finishes, gesturing towards Eric. Eric takes one quick look at Jason, like he's insane. "You heard me, draw your quantum defender and wipe them out. They've still got their powers, and their not coming to work for us, so they're way too dangerous to be kept alive" Jason orders Eric. Eric does not verbally refuse, but still denies his body the strength to move. "Or would you rather be on their side?" Jason prods Eric. Nervously, hesitantly, Eric has no choice but to draw his Quantum Defender, pointing it towards the wounded Wild Force rangers, people he once considered friends. This is why, he has to pull the trigger, but can't bring himself to. "I meant today" Jason jabs. Eric tries hard, or at least he thinks he does, to save his own job, his own future, and, by extension, his own life. Try as he might, Eric still can't bring himself to fire his blaster. "I guess I'll just have to do that too" Jason exclaims, grabbing the Quantum Defender out of it's owner's hands. Without remorse, or relent, Jason pulls the trigger, unloading on Cole, Alyssa, Taylor, and Merrick.


	11. Chapter 11

**Turtle Cove**

Without remorse, or relent, Jason pulls the trigger, unloading on Cole, Alyssa, Taylor, and Merrick...As the energy bullets rain down on he and his friends, from the quantum defender in Jason's hand, Cole does his best to use his own body to shield the rest of them from the blast. Though stray beams jar Merrick's arm and Taylor's leg, Cole, as intended, takes the full force of the attack head-on. As the proverbial smoke clears, Merrick grasps his arm, Taylor drops to a knee, and Cole crashes to the pavement face-first, having just had his lungs ventilated by Jason's attack. Concerned, and with obvious reason to be, Alyssa hurries to Cole's side and is joined by Taylor and Merrick, as soon as they manage to muster up the strength. Still, Cole lays face down on the sidewalk, his chest bleeding out onto the pavement, as he gasps for air. "Cole!" Alyssa cries, "We have to get him out of here" Merrick reasons, "Well, we can't move him" Taylor reasons right back, as reality begins to set in for this Wild Force. Helpless and guilt ridden, Alyssa begins to cry. Merrick and Taylor begin to shed tears as well, but their tears are nowhere near as immense in frequency as Alyssa's. "Cole, why'd you do it?" Alyssa asks, shocked and saddened, but thankful. Desperately clinging to life, Cole musters up the last of his strength, to speak what soon become his last words. "Don't worry, win this fight for what's right...my mom and dad will be waiting for me on the other side. I'm getting what I've always wanted" Cole assures Alyssa, gasping as he passes on.

Cole's teammates are afforded no time to grieve, as Jason grows impatient. "Well, now that that's finally over with, which one of you's next?" Jason continues to drive a blade into the hearts of the remaining Wild Force rangers. To the dismay of Taylor, Alyssa, and Merrick, and even several of the government rangers, Jason draws the Quantum Defender again. With the quantum ranger's weapon fixed on target, Jason pulls the trigger once again. This time, as the energy bullets fly through the air, they are intercepted by 3 arriving rangers: Conner, with his Tyrannostaff; Wes, with his Chrono Sabers; and, Scott, with his Nitro Sword. As the 3 red rangers swat the energy bullets out of the sky with their power weapons, the original red ranger, and several of his government affiliated brethren, are annoyed, but not surprised. Conner, Scott, and Wes' arrival is only a precursor to the rest of their forces, as the alley is, almost immediately, filled by Kira, Tori, Lily, Zack, T.J., Leo, and Karone. Right away, T.J. And Leo notice, and approach, Cole and the Wild Force rangers. "Is he...?" Leo starts, but stops when he is answered by a grim nodding of Taylor's head. "You guys are going to pay...for all this" T.J. Becomes enraged, preparing to engage the government rangers. As a ranger on ranger war appears that it's about about to break out, Will thinks fast. "This is Aston. All clones are cleared to move in" Will hisses, into his headset. Seemingly before one could blink, the already narrow alley becomes flooded with clones. The attacking clones fire at everything in sight, causing for even some of the government rangers to take cover, even as the advantage in the battle swings in their direction. "Lily, get the Wild Force rangers out of here, right now" Scott intelligently orders, taking into account Lily's own injured leg, as he gives her a way out of the battle. Without hesitation, Lily hurries to the Wild Force rangers' sides, beginning to usher them away as best she can, just as all hell breaks loose on the battlefield.

**Streets Of Angel Grove**

Awkwardly as possible, Dillon and Ziggy, two grown men, run through the streets of Angel Grove. "I still don't get why you couldn't just teleport us there" Dillon explains, obviously aggravated that he has to prance his way through town. Before Ziggy can answer, he has to stop to catch his breath. "Are you kidding? I don't know where anything is in this place, outside of T.V. Footage, and seeing as how I take it you don't want to end up in a cave..." Ziggy gives a rambling explanation, wheezing in attempts to catch his breath the entire time. Before Dillon can retort, or the two of them can start running again, Ziggy's rest is interrupted by a lady's scream. "Leave it alone" Dillon instantly growls at Ziggy, "But don't ya think...?" Ziggy starts, "Damn it!" Dillon exclaims, angrily. Though there are things at hand he may care more about, Dillon always knows what the right thing to do is, running towards the scream, before the fast-mouthed Ziggy can even say another word. With Ziggy following close behind, Dillon turns a corner to see a an elderly lady, being mugged by two grimy, middle-aged men. Heroically, and in a hurry, Dillon swaggers right up to the crime, cutting them off as they attempt to get away with the lady's purse. "Has anyone ever told you guys that you have the worst timing?" Dillon quips, "And they smell too!" Ziggy adds, from the street corner, which is presumably well out of nose-shot. "Keep your face out of it, pretty boy" the thief that's not carrying the purse strongly suggests.

Without any semblance of apathy, Dillon grabs the two thieves, hurling them to the ground, and making them drop the purse. With limited difficulty, the thieves climb back up to their feet and attempt to strike Dillon with their untrained fists. Dillon easily evades their attacks and then quickly dispatches each of them with a single fist. After a thorough thrashing that took all of 15 seconds, the thieves struggle to their feet, high-tailing it away from the black ranger. "Yeah, you better run" Ziggy mocks the thieves as they pass him, on their way out of dodge. Not being paid by the hour, Dillon walks over to, and picks up, the black, leather purse. "Here!" Dillon exclaims, as he hastily tosses the purse towards the old woman, who barely makes the catch. As Dillon, tries to leave, his relatively annoying ally Ziggy, approaches the elderly woman. "What he meant to say was that it's dangerous for a nice young lady like yourself to be out alone in the city these days" Ziggy smiles, as he patronizes the averted purse-napping victim, "My, my, you're such a nice boy...here, I have a treat for you" the elderly woman smiles, as she begins to dig in her purse. Impatiently, Dillon walks back towards Ziggy, and the old woman. "Yeah, we kinda have to get going..." Dillon starts, inferring to Ziggy a much more grave meaning to his words. While Ziggy does not reply, Dillon expects him to follow, turning his back to them once again. "But if you leave now then you won't get your lollipop" the elderly lady explains, a worry in her voice that tells the RPM rangers that, aside from this one attempted theft, she doesn't regularly have much to worry about in life. "A lollipop, Dillon...A lollipop" Ziggy mocks his friend, while further maintaining a tone that could be easily used to patronize the older woman. Dillon continues to walk away, but after a few steps, stops and turns around. "What color?" Dillon asks, as the elderly lady pulls a yellow lollipop out of her purse.

**Turtle Cove**

Inside the, what is bound to end up infamous, alley where the government rangers clash with the non-government rangers, the fight wages on. The clones become far less effective as the space between combatants tightens, and so, start to get picked off. Aside from the clones' blasters, they pose little threat to the rangers, though the threat for Conner and the others gets compounded by Jason and his ranks stepping back into the battle after the clones' initial attack. Zack and Jason clash, power weapons and all, as do Justin and T.J., while the Megaforce rangers, and most of the Samurai rangers, spread themselves throughout the alley. As most of their teammates collaborate with the clones in an attempt to defeat the enemy, Emily and Mike take cover, watching it all enfold. As Mike and Emily watch the battle, they feel the heart it takes to fight for the cause that they are, slowly slipping away. Being outnumbered doesn't seem to bother the Tommy, or on this mission Conner, led rangers, as they continue to scrap, evenly. In fact, the only one visibly losing a battle is Eric, even with his Quantum Defender firmly back in hand, against Wes. Even Eric himself is surprised at his easy defeat, though it has more to do with resolve than power. Wes actually manages to knock Eric up, and over everyone, and even slightly out of the alley, with a powerful time strike.

A few streets from the alley where rangers clash, Lily helps Taylor, Alyssa, and Merrick, look for cover, unaware that they've been followed by rangers who were conspicuously missing from the other battle. As Lily takes a step forward, she is knocked to the ground, and demorphed, by a swing of the Drive Slammer. The black Operation Overdrive ranger's Drive Slammer strikes her hip, re-aggravating a leg injury that she similarly shares with her fellow yellow ranger, currently standing to her right, Taylor Earhardt. "You didn't think you could get away that easy, did you?" Will, the perpetrator of the attack, joined by Rose, hisses. Largely out of instinct, Merrick attempts to fight Will, but with one disabled arm, and being up against a morphed ranger, he is easily dispatched by a single punch, and a throw. Taylor and Alyssa try to fight back as well, but Taylor's leg buckles, and she collapses, while Alyssa is disabled by a simple shot of Rose's Drive Geyser. Victorious and proud, Will stands over the 4 fallen rangers. "So, which one of you goes first?" Will mocks, knowing full well that all 4 are, beyond, unlikely to answer. "I guess that's you sweetheart" Will quips once again, largely to himself. Without any more stalling, Will lifts his Drive Slammer high up in the air, and prepares to bring it down on Taylor. "Will, don't!" Rose shrieks, making Will lower his weapon and turn to her. "Not getting squeamish on me, are you?" Will jabs. Rose couldn't be more thankful that nobody can see her nervousness, under her suit, in this moment. "Um, uh...It's just, well, it's simple. You know as well as I do that we get a hefty bonus when we bring a deserter back alive" Rose nervously reasons, "Now you're speaking my language" Will smirks, under his helmet, retracting his weapon entirely. Having been successfully reasoned with, and calmed down, Will puts his attention back on his captives, realizing that Taylor is gone. "Where did she go?" Rose wonders, "I don't know, but you stay here with these 3. I'm going to find her" Will orders, before swaggering off in a random direction.

Back inside the alley, things go from bad to worse, as fatigue starts to set in for the outnumbered non-government rangers. Jason gains the upper hand on Zack, after a momentary distraction from the clones, knocking him into a crowd of hostiles with multiple strikes of his power sword. T.J.'s strength wins out, as he starts to throw Justin around, but then Jayden, Kevin, and Antonio step in, striking him with a triple team spin sword onslaught. The combination of two spin swords and the gold ranger's barracuda blade staggers T.J. enough for Justin to level him with a powerful sidekick. Even each individual Megaforce ranger, with the aid of clones of course, spread out and wear down Kira, Tori, Scott, Leo, and Karone, respectively. The least scathed rangers are Conner and Wes, Wes hurrying to T.J.'s aid and clashing swords with the red and gold Samurai rangers, while the blue Samurai ranger continues to help Justin. Frustration and aggression start to build inside of Conner, as he watches his friends starting to get manhandled, while he pinballs clones. Watching Jason dismantling Zack again is hard to swallow. Watching T.J. Disarmed at the hands of the man who betrayed him and his team is unbelievable. But watching the Megaforce rangers, along with their clone lackeys, winning their battle, is unbearable. As Gia strikes Tori with her Tiger Claw, Conner cringes. As Noah blasts Leo with his Shark Bowgun, Conner curses. As Emma nails Karone with a blast of her Phoenix Shot, Conner worries. As Troy tears Scott up with his Dragon Sword, Conner finds it hard to watch. But, as Jake levels Kira with his Snake Axe, Conner has seen enough. The red Dino Thunder ranger understands, now, that he has to pull out all the stops. "Battlizer, Power up!...Fire kick!...Super fire power!" Conner yells, transforming into his Triassic ranger form, complete with battlizer.

Roughly a block away from where, for all intents and purposes, a small war is being waged inside an alley, Taylor's leg injury forces her to crawl through, another, alley. As Taylor finds safe haven behind a dumpster, she stops and catches her breath. However, Taylor's solemn rest is interrupted by a banging, on the dumpster she hides behind. Snapped back into reality by the sound, Taylor struggles to her feet to see what's going on, but doesn't like what she finds. "Waky, Waky, you're not quitting on me now are you? It was just getting fun" Will taunts. Viciously, Taylor kicks Will in the chest, and tries to limp away, but collapses yet again. Will easily catches up to her, forcing her back up onto her feet. "Bitch, you're really starting to piss me off" Will roars, "What are you going to do, hurt me? Your mommy told you not to" Taylor performs her own taunt. Angrily, aggressively, Will forces his morphed hand over her mouth. "Trust me, there's plenty more where you came from. I don't mind a light wallet this month" Will gleams, behind his mask. Pushed to the end of a considerably narrow fuse, Will draws his Drive Slammer once again. "Got anything else cute to say?...No?" Will hisses, and raises his weapon for the finishing blow. Before Will can deliver his planned attack, he is knocked down, and subsequently out, by a round kick to the head. Injured, exhausted, and shocked, Taylor involuntarily slides into the arms of her rescuer, the Quantum ranger, Eric Myers. "Eric...But, you...?" Taylor starts, trying to find the words, "Not now" Eric immediately shuts her down. As cautiously as possible, Eric drapes Taylor's arm over his shoulder, aiding her greatly in her successful attempt to hobble her way out of that alley, and out of danger.


	12. Chapter 12

**Turtle Cove**

As his friends continue to be knocked around by the government's rangers, Conner clings to hope that his greatest weapon, his battlizer, will be enough to even the odds. "Super stretch!" Conner calls, before extending his battlizer's arms, and knocking all 5 Megaforce rangers aside with powerful punches. Impressed, but not intimidated, by Conner and his battlizer's powers, the samurai rangers break off from other their fights, to attack him with their spin swords. In an impressive display of speed, Conner evades all of the skilled Samurai rangers' sword strikes, with swift, calculated, lateral movements. Lending himself space from his attackers, Conner soon finds his opening to strike. "Dragon yo-yo!" Conner calls, hitting each of the Samurai rangers with a "yo-yo" of energy, stemming from his battlizer. As Conner's attack bounces between Samurai rangers, knocking them to the ground, Justin Stewart watches eagerly, preparing to bounce. While the injured non-government rangers watch the fight unfold, they wonder if they should help the young red ranger, but decide against it, as it appears he has things firmly in toe.

Just as soon as the last Samurai ranger hits the ground, Justin fires at Conner with his auto blaster. "Conner" Kira cries, alerting Conner to Justin's attack. Running across one of the buildings' walls that form the alley, Conner escapes Justin's laser onslaught. "Stretch kick!" Conner yells, coming off the wall and levelling the blue Turbo ranger with a kick, hurling him into the wall at his back. Just as Justin collapses and demorphs, the remaining, healthy clones take their turn to close in on Conner. "Battle punch!" Conner roars, and as he punches the ground, a burst of energy shoots up, flooring all the overly aggressive clones. As the clones are knocked up into the air, and subsequently come pouring down like rain, Jason finally realizes how big of a threat the much younger red ranger really is. Brave and proud, Jason swaggers towards Conner, contemplating using his power sword, though his cockiness helps him decide not to. "The main event, I take it" Conner laughs, "I don't know why you kids insist on your fancy toys, back in my day all we needed was, this!" Jason retorts, sending his foot, and a kick, flying towards Conner in his battlized form.

Meanwhile, a few streets away from where Jason and Conner clash, Rose has Lily, Merrick, and Alyssa handcuffed. Rose, as intelligent as she is, understands the necessity, conveyed to her by the president, that her actions fulfil. Rose has been told that she has to do what she's doing for the greater good,and continues to look towards the future, though, it doesn't make her feel any better. Still, Rose takes pride in the fact that she took care of her adversaries as humanely as possible, allowing her to justify holding her Drive Geyser to their backs as she leads them back to the government rangers' deployment vehicle, the whole time hoping that they don't know she won't pull the trigger in this situation. As an uneasy hush falls over the captive rangers, Lily starts to realize that she's failed, that they've been captured, and, that even if she somehow broke them free, her leg wouldn't allow her to run away. With grim expressions on their face, Lily, Alyssa, and Merrick are forcibly marched into uncertainty, knowing full-well that they are powerless to help themselves.

As Rose leads her captives through the streets of Turtle Cove, miraculously, like a messenger from the heavens above, meant to answer Lily's prayers, Adam descends from the sky in a beam of sparkling green light. Adam lands just in front of Rose, halting the rangers' march to their new prison. "I came as soon as I could. Lily's morphing energy was dropping fast..." Adam starts, "And, now I see why" the unmorphed, green Zeo ranger finishes. With her hands shaking, Rose walks up to Adam, her Drive Geyser pointed at his head. "Don't make me shoot you" Rose quivers, knowing very well what her Drive Geyser would do from that range, to an unmorphed ranger. Without skipping a beat, the veteran green ranger steps towards Rose. "Somehow, I don't think you're going to" Adam challenges the pink Operation Overdrive ranger's resolve, bypassing her entirely and heading towards Lily, and the others. "Please, stop!" Rose shrieks, as she begins to be pushed past her limits. As confident as ever, Adam simply continues trying to find his allies a way out of their cuffs. While Adam attempts to free Lily, Alyssa, and Merrick, without the use of brute force, he catches something creeping up on him, in the corner of his eye. Instinctively, Adam steps out of the way of Will's Drive Slammer, just as he arrives on the scene and tries to crush the former black Mighty Morphin' power ranger with it. Will instantly tries to catch Adam on the rebound, but the skilled martial artist shoulder rolls under the attack, and springs back up with a spinning heel kick, knocking the weapon out of the black Operation Overdrive ranger's hands. Filled with aggression, the loss of Will's weapon doesn't slow him down, as he lunges at Adam. The veteran that he is, Adam rolls with Will's attack, catching him and slamming him with a sweeping wraparound. As Will struggles to his feet, Adam sends him sailing backwards with two jumping front kicks. Beaten but never humbled, Will stumbles to his feet one more time. "Rose let's go. These fools aren't even worth our time. They'll all get what's coming to them soon enough" Will hisses, before grabbing Rose and pulling her away. While Will awkwardly prances away, Rose stumbling closely behind, Adam returns to helping his allies get out of their handcuffs.

Inside the alley where the government rangers have been at non-government rangers' throats for hours, Jason is attempting to strike Conner, and is mid-kick. With the greatest of ease, Conner sidesteps the original red ranger's attempted kick. "Come on, I thought you were better than that" Conner taunts, "Your too cocky kid" Jason fires back, before attacking Conner again, this time with a flurry of punches and kicks. Yet again, with ease, Conner avoids taking damage at the hands of Jason's actions, this time blocking all his strikes. Resorting to something he thought he wouldn't have to, Jason draws his Power Sword, in order to keep fighting. Conner backs up, narrowly avoiding Jason's first attempted strike, and then grabs Jason's hand with his battlizer covered hand, avoiding any further potential strikes of his sword. Based on natural instinct alone, Jason uses his hand that's not restrained, drawing his blade blaster and firing on Conner. The impact of Jason's blast knocks Conner back, but not down. Immediately, Conner returns the favour, firing an energy blast back at Jason from his Triassic Fist. Conner's blast triples Jason's in impact, knocking the red Mighty Morphin' power ranger to the ground, and doing visible damage to his power suit. "Give up and save yourself the trouble" Conner mocks, "Yeah, right" Jason responds, swiftly climbing to his feet and firing at the red Dino Thunder ranger with his blade blaster, once again. Jason's firing, again, has minimal effect, Conner flooring him with a super-speed front kick. Jason instantly climbs to his feet, but far slower than he did before, even dropping back down to a knee, momentarily. "Cannons!" Conner roars, leading his battlizer to materialize shoulder mounted cannons for his final attack.

"Conner, no! You'll kill him" Kira cries, "If I kill him, I kill him. I don't want to, but this all has to end here, all of it" Conner explains, trying to convince Kira, and the others, that he's in his proper frame of mind. While Conner may not be in the same frame of mind he was before this whole thing started, he is more tactful, precise, and ready to strike, ready to stand up for what he believes in, than ever before. "Hit me with your best shot, kid" Jason demands, "Battle Blast!" Conner complies, assaulting Jason with a large, almost supernova-like, blast. As Conner's battle blast connects with Jason's body, there is a large explosion, the bright light from which, causing the rangers in the alley to cover their eyes for a short period of time. As the light subsides, and the smoke clears, all the alley rangers see Jason, demorphed, and laying in a heap on the pavement. Slowly, all able rangers begin to close in on the wounded leader of the government rangers, so as to check and see if he's still alive. Before anyone can reach the fallen Mighty' Morphin' power ranger, he begins to squirm and stir. With over a dozen of his peers looking on in awe, Jason takes about a minute, and then wills himself to his feet once again. "No way" Emily exclaims, "No way" Conner concurs, much louder than the original statement. "You thought you could beat me?" Jason barks, hardly able to stand. Without another word, and in an act of desperation, Jason charges at Conner once more, limping as he runs. Partly to stop Jason from attacking him, and partly to protect Jason from himself, Conner reaches out his battlizer's arms, using his "super stretch" technique to clutch the original red ranger, and hold him still. "Yeah, we need to talk" Conner smirks, from under his helmet.

Just as it seems Conner has finally bested Jason and the government rangers, he is struck in the back by the bladed end of a lance, and two flying daggers. The impact from this surprise, ranged attack shocks Conner to his very core, incapacitating his battlizer and and all of the extra power it lends him. As Conner demorphs, grasping his gut and back in pain, his new attackers officially arrive on the scene. To Conner's surprise, and of course everyone else's, his previously hidden attackers are the blue and yellow Mighty Morphin' power rangers, Billy Cranston and Trini Kwan. Having just struck Conner with their Power Lance and Power Daggers, Billy and Trini take a proud stance, before helping a collapsing Jason to his feet. "No way, you gotta be kidding me! Billy, you too now?" Zack whimpers, "The president simply reformulated our mission statement in a manner I thoroughly enjoy, and comprehend. I am now on board one hundred percent" Billy explains, though Zack isn't buying it. "You can't be serious?" Zack asks, concerned, "How could he be?" Leo adds. Symbolic of the turning tide that comes with the government rangers new found advantage, Jason stands up straight once more, in order to address his opponents. "He's just doing what you should've been doing this whole time" Jason grins. With tensions high, everyone wonders who will be the next to strike, but before anyone can, an alert buzzes in Trini's earpiece. "The rest of phase 2 has arrived" the president's voice resonates in Trini's ear, "Send them in" Trini responds, and before the non-government rangers know it, the alley is filled by a second wave of clones, led by all 6 Lightspeed Rescue rangers.

Immediately, the alley is filled with blaster fire from the clones and lightspeed rangers, only some of which Conner, Kira, Zack, Wes, Leo, Karone, T.J., Tori, and Scott are able to evade. As energy bullets rain over the non-government rangers, even striking government rangers Noah, Gia, and Emma as they stand by, Conner, Karone, and Tori are injured and knocked down by the lightspeed rangers', and clones', attack. Next, Scott, T.J., Kira, Leo, and Zack are levelled by a storm of fists and feet, brought on by stampeding clones and government rangers. As their former friends' fists rain down on them, the non-government rangers can't help but wonder what happened. "Ryan, Joel, what are you guys doing?" Wes asks, staggering to avoid the titanium rangers' strikes, "We were fools to desert the cause" Ryan proclaims, "And we'll never do it again" Joel adds, aggressively. Before Wes can ask any more questions, Joel joins Ryan in his assault of the red Time Force ranger, battering him without mercy. While his friends fight a losing battle, Zack finds himself in the midst of chaos, clashing evenly with one of his former best friends, Dr. Billy Cranston. As the Power Axe scrapes against the Power Lance, Zack tries to get as many words as he can out, quickly. "What are you doing, bro? These guys have been lying to you the whole time. They been playin' you, can't you see that? Think of all the times we had man, savin' the world or just chillin' in the juice bar, you must know I'm not the bad guy. Or maybe you're just not as smart as I thought you were" Zack rants. Billy doesn't respond verbally, but instead retaliates physically, striking Zack down with his Power Lance. As Zack lays quivering on the hard ground, any remorse one might expect Billy to have is gone, as he prepares to drive his Power Lance into the black ranger's heart. Zack manages to narrowly escape his former friend's death blow, rolling out of the way, though it continues to become apparent that the non-government rangers no longer stand a chance.

**The Hexagon**

Anxious, poised, and ready to storm the enemy base, Dillon and Ziggy stand on the curb across from the above ground level of the Hexagon. Just as Dillon and Ziggy step down from the curb, after taking the gravity of the situation in, they are stopped. "Ay yi yi, the rangers are in serious trouble here!" Alpha shrieks, inside of Ziggy and Dillon's earpieces, "Handle it Alpha!" Dillon barks back, knowing full-well that Alpha has very limited capabilities. Unwilling to compromise, Dillon starts walking towards the Hexagon once again. "How bad is it Alpha?" Ziggy wonders, "I don't know how much longer they'll last" Alpha panics. Ziggy stops and thinks. "Can you pull them out?" Ziggy asks, "There's too many signatures, there's no telling who I'd be bringing back" Alpha continues to panic. Ziggy pauses and looks at Dillon, who's almost made it to the front door that he intends to walk right into. "Send us in, supercharge my suit or whatever, and we'll get them out" Ziggy reasons, and just like that, Dillon and Ziggy are transported into the sky, in beams of sparkling black and green light.

**Turtle Cove**

"Ziggy!" Dillon yells, as he arrives right in the middle of a huge war-zone of an alley.


End file.
